What Love Takes
by Eerie Enigma
Summary: It has been half a year since the leader of Anti-Thesis was defeated. After his return to the academy, Tsukune has a misunderstanding with Moka. What if it had gone differently? Who would think that the consequences would become so large?
1. Only Human

**A/N: Hello, everyone. This is my third book for the saga. This particular story focuses on Rosario + Vampire. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 1: Only Human**

Bells.

Not the chiming sort of bells that you hear during the Mass that good Catholics attended every Sunday, nor the loud, haughty, pronounced ones that you always depicted with those beautiful wedding days for every happily ever after. Just the sound of bells that seemed to be…missing pieces. Like they were trying to work. But then, perhaps it was absence of sound instead – no one had ever heard the sound of a bell trying to work. There was only the slightest tinkering of the little tiny marbles inside. Maybe Aono Tsukune…really wasn't hearing anything after all.

But then, there was the sort of the continuous moaning, artificial noise that you might hear after waking from unconsciousness, buzzing through your head, and not going away until you simply forget it's there. That was all he could hear through his bloodied, beaten ears ever since his earlier incident with the aggressive female vampire. You know, the one that sends bigger, bulkier, uglier monsters spiraling thousands of meters through the air, crashing, and completely obliterating the entire landscape behind them? _That's_ the one.

Her name…is Akashiya Moka.

And even through his crippled, stranded vision could he still see the strong scarlet flash through and through the refined slit pupils that were her eyes. Her silver hair was long and free, drifting quietly every so direction, but only adding on to the natural elegance that came with being the S – Class monster. That kind of _absolute_ being that other monsters probably only dream of matching up with.

The renowned and infamous pinnacle of power.

Vampire.

That name flashed dozens of times through the human boy's head as he continued to drag his wounded, practically broken body through the trail deep in some wilderness situating in the Youkai Academy. An academy for monsters. An academy…that he was not welcome to as a human. Only a handful of people know the truth about him, and one of them had just beaten him half to death.

He had assumed that she didn't know about how much she had really hurt him. That was just the kind of gullible person he was, and he cursed himself for it. But he really didn't believe that she knew her own strength, because she was much more used to being around other monsters than humans like him. Humans tended to be more frail than the creatures she was used to. Moka would never mean to kill him. He believed this, alright.

But for God's sake, he was only what he was! He didn't ever ask to be thrown into some mix of universal creatures from practically every side of the universe, fairytail, and mind. That was just not what he had in mind when he gave school another chance. He had failed himself once – his exam grades were proof of that, but when his father came to him one day with the presumed answer to his curricular problem, he was only too happy to accept admission into a private school.

The weary, wounded boy shook the thoughts to the back of his mind.

He was in constant need of medical attention, but it was weird, because the only thing that crossed his mind during his humiliation in front of everybody was just to crawl away from the academy as fast as his body could allow. Just to disappear from sight. And that's exactly how he ended up here.

He broke his miserable movement for a moment to reach up and gently wipe a smudge of blood from his face. He could only imagine how much he had been messed up. He definitely _felt_ like crap. He could feel the bruises and wounds all over his front and back, and if there wasn't at least one bone broken, he'll be damned. Of course he knew if Moka really meant to do something this severe, she probably would have ended up accidentally smashing him to bits instead. That was how deadly she was…that was how capable.

His academy suit was torn and ruined, but that was the least of the matters at hand here.

The whole thing started with the simple prank from before. The young witch, Yukari was the one who pulled it, so in a way that even he saw, this was pretty much all her fault. In order to gain a little moment from between Moka and him, she had decided to douse her with a little bit of this thing called an _Aphrodisiac_. What a thing to do. Not only had it gotten him into trouble with Moka herself, but he had almost been crushed between two additional admirers – Kurono Kurumu and Shirayuki Mizore. A succubus and a _yuki onna_, both exceptional ranks in the monster chain, but terrible monsters to get involved with. Tsukune's luck seemed to go a little bit like that. They were beautiful creatures to behold indeed, but _god_ they were competitive. It was as if the world of tomorrow meant nothing to any of them the way they throw themselves at him, quite literally. For Kurumu however, she would usually stick to the tradition of throwing him face first into her huge breasts, nearly suffocating him each time. So really, even when a monster is trying to be affectionate, they can still kill you. Some. _Way._

Yukari succeeded in drugging the beautiful vampire, and she in turn tried to force him to do the most – the most unspeakable things! One of them, he wouldn't forget easily, was that she wanted him to kiss her leg, speaking to him about it like it was some sort of forbidden love rite.

The boy's weary, yet still wondrous brown eyes held true. He stared at the ground he clung to in a moment of deep thought. The scary thing was…he felt that he was prepared to. It was the weirdest feeling, like he just felt like holding her, and…

His drooped head instantly jerked up to snap himself violently back into reality. No! No, what was he thinking? He wasn't ready to do something like that, though he had to admit, he was very near the age. It's as they say, at sixteen, anything could happen.

And a _lot_ has definitely happened.

But something funny happened when in that very moment, when she and he each drew in a breath of the spring air and went in for an enchanting, enthralling, _exhilarating_ first kiss, the Rosario, the rosary that Moka always kept worn around her neck went ballistic, and nearly punctured his cranium when he got close enough - the gemstone in the center, gleaming with that same scarlet color of her true eyes. Trying to stop it, Tsukune accidentally pulled it off…accidentally awakening…_her._

Pardoning the term of use, but Moka isn't just a _vampire._ She's…well…Moka. An elegant girl who could very well overpower all of the teachers working in the monster academy, if not the academy itself. The battles with any would-be vampire conquerors were met with the cruelest retribution, often dealt with in a minute or two. Can you say _anticlimactic?_

Moka had two sides. The first was who everybody deemed 'Outer Moka' a cute, carefree girl with the gentle personality more suitable to Tsukune himself. She had only a fraction of her actual strength thanks to the rosary usually lingering around her neck. He had never seen her try to kill a fly that way. Her appearance was a little less threatening too. Her breasts were less developed, and her hair was a pinker tint of color. Without the ominous influence of her youkai aura, her eyes were the most charming shade of green. Overall, that form comforted Tsukune more.

Her _other_ form, now, was something completely new. That very form that Tsukune had accidentally awakened at the time, despite having purposely freed many occasions before to defend his friends and himself, was a true _monster._ Her skin was much paler than her farce form; her eyes, two slit pupils encased in the deepest shades of scarlet. Her hair was much lighter in color as well, and her voice commanded the level of authority that 'Outer Moka' would never measure up to.

Her face wore little to no empathy for other living beings, and she rarely ever smiled, except for when she was fighting some monster that _didn't_ take less than a minute to take down.

We call her _'Inner Moka'._

Back before the school shut down because the thug organization 'ANTI-THESIS' nearly wiped the barriers that separated the monster world from the human world straight off the cosmos. That would've been messy, no doubt, and it's little wonder why the Chairman of the school decided to close down for half a year. At that time, Tsukune missed Moka and his other friends more than he had ever missed his parents when he attended the academy.

He expected some sort of a freaky welcome back, but never this.

When _Inner_ Moka entered the scene and found Tsukune on top of her, she cringed with a type of threatening aura that he hoped he would never see off of anyone ever again. It was awkward, and he agreed that he deserved the thunderous kick that sent him sailing off into the air and back, but not what came after that.

Though unclear from delirium, his memory served him properly, and he relived the horrible vision of being explained to firsthand by Inner Moka about what happened while he was weak on his knees.

"_Aphrodisiac…?"_ he heard his weak, crumbled voice,_ "Yukari-chan had you drink an aphrodisiac…? Th-then today, Moka-san's pushy actions…"_

"_Were completely the Aphrodisiac's fault."_ He heard her refined voice finish for him. He cringed with his eyes when he thought about the stare that she gave them with those elegant, deadly eyes…and what was soon to ensue shortly thereafter. _"However,"_ she continued to speak, turning her heated, perhaps disrupted glare to him. Her usually pale cheeks were in a flush.

Tsukune released his arms that kept his upper half up; dropping his support as he helplessly listened to the playback in his head. He held his hands to his ears in a fruitless effort to block out the sound.

"_My supreme pride as a vampire…will not allow a lowly human like you to get near me."_

With that, Tsukune pictured her stepping towards his temporarily helpless body with the intent to finish the thrashing with him that she started. And those terrible two words echoed with her movement.

_Lowly human_

_Lowly human_

_Lowly human_

_Lowly human_

…………

…those…_hateful_ words…

"_I am aware that I had already commanded you to know your place when I kicked you once…but I want to get a few more in just to ensure that this will not happen again."_ Tsukune watched a cruel smirk wrap around her beautiful, flawless face. _"You'll understand, won't you Tsukune?"_

_ "No…don't come near me…I…I get it."_

_ "No…"_ he heard her say, not seeing her approach slowed one bit. He closed his eyes in a horrified wince when she stopped in front of him, her hands at her hips. _"…I really don't think you do."_

Lying on the ground as he remembered, the boy gritted his teeth in anger and regret, and threw his fist to the soil-patted ground. A small plume of smoke shot up from the impact.

"Damn it…why…? …And how??" He looked up to the sky with tears welling up in his eyes. Turning away to close his eyes for a minute, he instantly threw his head back up to the sky again.

"…HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW _SERIOUS YOU WERE??!!_"

His voice echoed again and again. All he could do at the moment was to yell. Scream. His practically useless body wouldn't allow him to do much else. He panted for breath under the exertion mixed with the pure, complete shock from earlier. He lay on his side, a crumpled heap. A miserable mound welling with guilt, lament, anger, and most of all, desire to understand how the day could have taken such a turn for the worst. The moment he had stepped off of that bus, even through the unnerving warning from that mysterious bus driver, he had expected to be welcomed by so much more gentle arms. …At least arms that wouldn't do…this to him.

That desperate moment that he had trying to get away from the vampire, he remembered stopping his struggling movement for a moment, but only a moment to stop and look back over his shoulder at the girl who had done it all to him. His eyes quivered with terror; with questioning, with pleading, with shock, but her eyes remained unmoved as they answered them. As he elongated the distance between him and the group of girls, Kurumu, Yukari, and even Mizore looked at him with sheer concern and bliss sorrow for the boy, while the vampire herself kept her arms neatly folded and her emotionless face blanketing a demeanor of disappointment and a feeling hidden especially well…

…_Regret._

Tsukune continued his petty crawl to wherever the path led him. His face was pale; soaked with the feeling of hopelessness. Since the end of the last period with the academy, he had hesitantly begun developing feelings for the colder version of Moka, but he always kept it to himself. A dream to get that half to accept him as well, as he realized, was crumbling down.

"…I was…only…ever…human."

He found himself in the middle of the dead forest that he had always strolled through on his way to the academy for a semester – a forest that he had crossed just earlier this day. It was just as creepy as it always had been. Bronze, dead leaves were scattered all over the place, some spinning along meager whirlwinds in the distance, and let's no one forget about the long rows of tombstones scattered across the sides lining up the twisted road.

The sky was almost completely covered by the outstretched arms of the gnarled, leafless trees, making it look almost like nighttime there in those woods, although Tsukune had always reason to believe that the sky always looked more sickly and brown whenever he stepped in to go through. It was like the whole place was cursed. It would come to no surprise if it was haunted, as well.

His body continued to slide against the leaves and otherwise loose soil scattered messily across the cold ground. Tsukune scowled weakly at the disgusting sound it made, but he would persevere. He would find a solution to all this…somehow.

He grasped the ground he was pulling himself toward with a firm grip. His wrist sparkled with a golden light, and his eyes widened in the realization that it was the arm he kept his holy locket attached to. The only thing that kept him human – from turning into a mindless ghoul. He remembered how much of a threat that everyone had said he was when he was in that violent state – how he had almost massacred everyone with him. It was from…taking in too much of Moka's vampire blood…wasn't it?

He ran the edge of his hand along the thin chain that supported the tiny cross insignia. He felt the fleshy pads of his fingertips gently meeting up with the enchanted metal. How could such a tiny thing possibly keep out such a destructive force? It was amazing.

Just then, he slowly started to draw his own attention away from his fidgeting with the seal and slowly up to the sound of flowing water. There he found himself suddenly in darkness at the bank of a tranquil, misty river.

'_Did…I ever cross…or even _see_ a river in these woods?'_ He wondered, peering on with curiosity at the limelight water flowing one direction. The body of water itself ran directly in front of him, channeling straight ahead and flowing away from where he watched from all fours. Ahead was like a tunnel, but it was too dark to see where it led. He looked up at the sky to realize that the sky was visible now. It wasn't brown, but in fact the darkest shade of gray he had ever laid his eyes on; the clouds all kept themselves sewn together in a smoky pattern. There was not a star in the sky, yet the moon was nearly full – just trimmed slightly on one side, but it still looked luminously beautiful. The moon in the Youkai Realm was always gigantic and bright pink for some reason. He had never really bothered to deduce why. However, this particular moon looked like the sort that he was accustomed to seeing back home – distant and pale. He wondered silently to himself why that was.

The skinny, leafless, dead trees that he saw everywhere in the woods were now lined up in two rows, one perfectly positioned on each side of the slender body of water, bending towards it in the way that the tree in the movie _Sleepy Hollow_ did. There was the absence of animal noises; he would expect to hear an owl or two or at least a couple of crickets, but no such thing here. There was only the vigorous flowing river that continued its flight downstream, cloaked in thick shreds of mist.

Tsukune reached out with his locket arm to run his fingertips along the surface of water. He slowly but surely made contact with it – and it felt ice cold to the touch. He shuddered at the intake of such ugly temperature, but kept his hand in. Suddenly he noticed a faint red light radiating out from his hand and spreading like wildfire across the water. Sparks danced without breaking the surface underneath, bringing the fog of the bank to life with the color as well. Soon, the whole place was illuminated with the blood red light.

His pupils dilated with wonder at what surrounded him. Tiny wisp-like sparks of light, like red fireflies, danced in front of his face, one every now and then would catch his nose, and he would feel the pleasant, tingly feeling of warmth in a tiny little burst. He then eventually realized that his attention was no longer on his pain, although he was still bloody and damaged, whether that were the case or not.

"…_Thou art lost, child?"_

His eyes perked up with startle and he vigorously turned his head back and forth to look ahead at where the chilled whisper of a voice may have asked from. The background was smothered in black with red lights still dancing up from the water and dissipating like fire ember. "Uhhh, who, who said that?" He peeped out his response with the timidity that he always showed the girls in everyday life-threatening situations. He heard a deep inhale come through as a hiss in the background, seeming to never cease for the longest time. Tsukune felt his heart pounding in his chest with excitement.

A gigantic body of red light appeared from under the water's surface, shining uttermost into his face. His whole upper body lit up with that same color; the lower half was out of its range since it was further back. The voice repeated its coarse beckoning, _"…Thou art lost?"_ The voice spoke in mixtures of Old and Middle English Text that Tsukune was somewhat familiar with from having studied in Shakespearian drama and the like. But he had a feeling that he already knew what the whisper was attempting to ask him.

He thought about the question with uncertainty for a few moments, and then hung his head in shame.

"Hai."

He was unsure of what he should say to the voice beckoning to him. Should he really tell it about his earlier incident between himself and Moka? He imagined that the voice may very well recognize his terrible condition, so he would do his best to make it seem like nothing had happened.

The voice took several seconds to respond. The echo that followed it every time it spoke did also, lingering somewhere in the air through the passage.

"_Thou doth look as if thy mote hath been mauled terribly so. Come and wash thyself in 'ere water that hast been touched by my presence. Come…"_

Tsukune knelt over and peered deeply into the water. He saw a perfect reflection of himself cast about the surface, though the strange thing about it was that it had none of the wounds that he had and his clothes were perfectly neat and clean in it. His white dress shirt was free from any mud or grime, and the cloth was not torn through to the point where he could see his bare skin through it. It was probably inferring the capabilities that the water had. He was very hesitant in his decision, but finally scooped up a handful of the clear liquid and watched it drip through his fingers. He splashed some up into his face to wet his messed up hair down to decent shape and cool his heated face.

"It feels…so soothing. It's wonderful, actually." He announced through a weak voice just briefly while he took a few quick sips in. He hadn't drunk anything all afternoon, so he knew he was dehydrated. His eyes were closed to allow the refreshing sensation of the water pour through his dry palate and throat.

"_As it should. 'Tis water crafted by myself. Ordinary water canst do naught for thee as thou doth appear. …Critical wounds."_ Before Tsukune could reply with thanks, the voice went on, emulating through the light. _"Before thou compliments his thanks to me, I sense that thou hast been wounded further…"_

The great light and the area around it immediately flashed into a beautiful dark blue. There was an unsettling whistling sound.

Tsukune felt himself go pale again. "Th-this can't be good…"

"_Child, be not afraid. Come hither and bare witness to thy reflection once more…"_

He timidly stuck his head closer to the now blue light and anxiously peered again into the water. He saw himself again, but before his very eyes, the image of himself melted away to reveal a black figure that he had never seen before. His jaw dropped at the ghastly effect, but tried to shake it off, knowing full well that he would not want to disgrace whoever it was that provided the water to him. He squinted to make out the figure's face, but failed to do so. It looked really dark on the other side.

"Holy crap…" he started in amazement, "are you…"

The figure that he was looking to waited patiently for the question to finish. Tsukune's eyes sparkled with wonder at the notion that had popped into his head.

"…God?"

The figure turned its head to the side awkwardly.

"'_Tis not who I am, neighbor…"_

"Well I…I'm not sure if I understand what you…"

"_Come hither,"_ the whisper interrupted gently, _"Come hither…and I will show thee wonders only beheld in thy dreams."_ Tsukune stared down at the reflection. Strangely enough, it looked much closer than it was before. He still could not see the face of the beckoner, but it was right up in front of him. _"Come hither…and I will teach thee to spark things only beheld in the nightmares of thee and thy enemies."_

"Enemies…?" Tsukune questioned nervously. He had remembered that not all of the monsters in the academy that he had met had become friends. And some of them were terrible even to look at. But still, he was unsure if he wanted anything to do with fighting. "What if I…don't want that kind of power?"

He grunted in surprise, his eyes wide at the skeletal hand that reached straight up through the reflection, breaking the surface of the water, causing ripples.

"_Come hither, and I can teach thee to do battle for the ones thy loves."_

The hand protruded more and more out of the blackening water, turning only slightly as it offered itself to Tsukune. He was positively freaking out over it now. He twitched nervously at the fingers reaching forth almost as if to grab him. Then, pale skin slowly started to envelope around the exposed bone of the strange hand. It burned onto it from out of nowhere, like how an object would collect dust, only a hundred times faster.

"Is this…an illusion of some sort? Are you…trying to trick me…?" He asked intently as the now human-looking hand stuck out for him from the other side of the reflection in the swirling water.

"_Be not afraid,"_ the voice assured. Suddenly, Tsukune got the feeling that whoever that was down in the water, he was smiling at him. It was a type of smile that could freeze water into ice in the late of summer. With that feeling, Tsukune found himself becoming increasingly intent taking whoever this was up on their offer. He needed some time away from Moka for what she had done. He might as well make the most of his time to learn new things. If they turned out to be bad, he could just sneak away when he got the chance. _"Come hither, and I can eliminate thy reason to fear…forever."_

What else could he do?

Sitting up on his knees, Tsukune took the hand into his own. It made a squishing noise that sent a wave of chills down his spine, setting all his hairs on end. If it wasn't so moist, he could have sworn that he was touching dry ice.

"Okay…" he did his best to force a polite, optimistic smile to the stranger. "Let's hear what you've got to tell me."

**A/N: Phew! It is **_**on.**_** Please… My stories grow better through progression.**


	2. Welcome to Paradise

**A/N: I now wish to hug the people who have submitted such thoughtful starting reviews, but since I am still studying up on how to spontaneously project my molecules through the internet directly to all desired profile users, I suppose another chapter will **_**have**_** to suffice… (…sigh…)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 2: Welcome to Paradise**

The hand never let go.

Rather, it squeezed much tighter around Tsukune's, the pale digits of the fingers wrapping around his, almost on the verge of snapping them at right where the brusque pressure was applied.

The formerly wounded academy student took a deep breath to absorb the pain and bitter cold coming off of the hand and through his entire arm, realizing to himself that whether deciding to go was a good idea or not, it was far too late to rethink decisions.

The equally pale forearm keeping the hand to Tsukune was the only connection between the Youkai Academy and the world that he knew he was about to see. He wondered the simpler questions to himself first. Questions like, _Is it the human world? Is it home?_

It didn't take long to realize, however, that his body had had about all that it could take from…whatever the hell kind of creature that could inflict so much torture just by maintaining contact with one limb. It was more joyous than a kick from any vampire, that much was for certain, but nevertheless, it felt like it was freezing him from the inside, limb first, vital organs immediately after. The arm gripping the stranger's hand had already gone numb, and anything that hadn't already was being jarred by a mysterious prickling sensation. It reminded him of the times that Mizore had frozen him completely to the ground to keep him still so that she had an opening to get to him and that he had a serious lack of one to haul away at top speeds.

The stranger just on the other side of the mysterious blue portal was slowly gaining its confidence in getting Tsukune through. He could immediately tell that it wasn't planning on coming in from the other side, and all the while, the oppressive grasp clung to his wrist, pulling him closer to the face of the river, rippling with discord. The bright blue light kept the stranger's face hidden from plane sight. Tsukune squinted for a look, only to find the light much too offending for his eyes.

Using his free wrist with the holy limiter wrapped around it, he briefly rubbed against his irritated face while turning it away. But the arm pulled him even closer still, and he could now hear deep inhales and exhales emulating from the other area of the bank, instilling Tsukune with a great blanket of discomfort.

And then in spite of the numbness, he felt his arm as it went through a peculiar coolness. He knew for certain.

He was passing through.

The feeling was tense, like a thousand tiny ants completely enveloping his arm and moving up. But at the same time, he couldn't help but think _ice._ The foreign hand, devoid of color, held on, entrapping him in an almost cryogenic-like state of mind as well as body. He found himself thrown into a sort of trance…or was it just paralysis?

He refused to look back at the light, but he heard the voice, again in a whisper. _"Look to the door. If thou shall lose thy confidence, 'tis very easy to get lost on the way…"_

He shot his eyes open. "G-get lost? Get lost how??"

The bony hand squeezed tighter only for a brief moment in an attempt to ease him, but it ended up shocking him even harder. _"Shhhhhh…"_

Tsukune swallowed, gulping in the anxiety, but slowly turned back to the reflection to adjust his eyes to the blinding light. It burned a lot at first, but he then became somewhat clear to the limitless well in front of him, where light never stopped spewing forth.

He couldn't shake the warning from his mind. "You sure this is…alright?"

"_Thou fined weakness through lack of faith! Just trust in me! Only in me!"_

"Don't drop me then! Hold on to me!" But he doubted his own words, because the ice continued creeping up his arm, making a glacial crackling while it froze from the water making up the strange gateway between the worlds. The hand burned deeper into his skin.

"Gah…my hand…feels like its being dipped in liquid metal! Hurtsssss!" He gritted his teeth in pain while emphasizing on his word with a sizzling hiss.

The taller reflection on the other side wasted no more time. With one great yank, the arm pulled Tsukune off of his feet and plunged him straight through the teeming light with only a moment more. His entire body almost instantly became as chilled as the arm that was now unwillingly subjoined to the stranger. And as he found himself dragged through a wormhole of light weaved in tight fabrics, and out into a pit of limitless darkness, he was immediately crushed under invisible weight all around. It was like the gravity was being amplified tenfold.

He could no longer see the hand he had grabbed a hold of in front of himself, much less feel it. He could no longer see the sky, or the moon, or the water, or the faceless creature he had met.

He fell alone, plummeting through a spiral of terrifying stars bathed in purple; a spiral downward through a bottomless Hell. His mouth shot open to let out a silent scream, falling…falling…

The sound of a collision, the booming of speakers exploding in his ears, a flash of white, then everything went black. And silent.

The next thing he knew, he was being dragged up off of his feet by an invisible force, dangling limp like a fish on a hook. His eyes were either barely open from exhaustion or wide open in a frozen shock, but it mattered all the same. He couldn't see.

That's what made the force holding him up so invisible. It blended in with the rest of the dark. It was a dark that was much too dark to be night. It was…pitch dark. No lights, no sound, nothing in plain sight.

Tsukune had to be dreaming. He was drifting alone in the middle of a limitless void held up by something he didn't even know what, and seeing nothing. What happened to the voice? To the shape that had reached for him? He couldn't remember what it looked like, or how long it had been since he had even seen it. But here he was, alone with his thoughts, the only tool he had left.

His legs dangled loosely – he had no idea how far he was from the ground, if there was a ground. His head hung heavily.

"_Awaken."_ His whole body jostled slightly. After another moment, _"Awaken I say."_

His body shook a bit more. He let his gaze set on one direction for awhile, and he kept still for a moment.

'_Who's there…?'_ He didn't find himself asking it like he wanted to, but thinking the question instead.

He heard a hissing inhale and exhale, and then the whisper again. _"Open thine eyes and thou shall see."_

'_My eyes are open…'_

"…_Test not of mine patience."_

Tsukune drew in a deep winter breath in his effort to concentrate, and he instantly let out a gasp when the world around him lit up only a slight bit more. He weakly turned his head up to find that something was holding him up by the scruff of his worn shirt, suspending him above ground. Whoever it was, he still couldn't see. There was still only thick darkness.

"_Ah-huh…"_ The voice's volume increased slightly. Tsukune wondered if this was because its character was getting a bit more excited or because he was snapping from the drowse. _"Child, o' child, looketh at what thou hast done. Went and exhausted thyself from half a minute's journey jumping the realms, thou hast."_

Tsukune was still panting, but responded with his own voice this time, "Huh…? Realms…? And no way…it seemed much more…like days…"

He was unpleasantly cut off when the invisible shadow behind him abruptly threw him forward, and the fatigued student grunted when his chest hit something solid, but slightly cushioned. Then he heard the shuffling of something below him kicking along the ground, and felt himself moving steadily along with it. He was thrown into even more surprise taking in the current situation.

"Are…are you hauling me on your shoulder?"

"_Be silent. The dangers around this place at the moment…are incomprehensible. With each and every nightfall, there is a new abomination that appears. Not that they pose much of a threat to me, but all of the creatures around hither hunt. And thou hath neither defense nor pardon from any of them."_

"Well I understand that part, but I'm not a _carry-on…_"

"_Silence, I spoketh. We taketh no chances. Thou art far too laggard to leave at work on thy own accord. Now respect mine wish and keep thy volume to minimal significance."_

The voice always whispered. Its tone was unreadable, but it felt as sharp and as real as the pain it gave him when it touched his hand with its own. Knowing that it had that kind of capability, Tsukune decided that it was best not to take any chances with this guy's temper. He was much too tired at the moment to do much talking himself anyway.

"O-okay…" He stuttered in barely a whisper. _'But how come it's okay for him to talk and not me? Wouldn't we get spotted either way…?'_

Instantly as he thought, Tsukune spotted the only thing that he could see. Protruding out of the thick haze was a single tiny spot of golden light. And then the wispy voice spoke, breaking the tension. _"The reason that only I may speak is that I do not truly speak at all… I shall take thee to place most confidential where thou in turn shall retire for the night…"_

Looking at the strangely luminous orb made Tsukune's eyes grow heavy. Every second weighed him down even more. Finally, he was far too weary to even question himself as to how this stranger had apparently managed to read his thoughts. He could not keep awake through the whole trip. He fell, slowly, into a sort of dream within a dream, lapsing from consciousness into a well-needed sleep.

And as that tiny golden light faded out, he heard the anonymous whisper finish its small discussion through an echo.

"_This I say to thee…we speaketh once more in the morn."_

Tsukune was out before he even realized it.

* * *

His vision was blurred for a moment from morning drowsiness. That was kind of a common with him. His eyes adjusted to a bright light beaming down on him. Letting out a yawn and raising his head, he looked over at his surroundings. Stone columns, some sturdier than others, kept up parts of the ceiling, and there were areas behind them that were almost too dark to see clearly. In some places there were statues of angelic figures that he felt were staring directly at him, but some of them were too flawed to identify the faces. Over and all, a temple ruin-like feel. But somewhere, there was a little bit of rural courtyard like feel to it growing around too.

Vines and various plants were growing everywhere along cracked, stony walls. A strangely dark orange sun was radiating its light from the gigantic gaping hole in the ceiling – the same light that he had woken up to.

It didn't take a while to realize that everything that had happened to him earlier wasn't a dream. And it brought his mood down real quick.

He heaved his upper half off of the ground and looked down over him to find that there was a bed-sized patch of leaves that had been laid beneath him for comfort. Although he was now shirtless and was given no covers to sleep with, the sun above cast a pleasant ray of warmth over him. A long scar was revealed over his bare torso. A scar that he had carried since around the time he had experienced his temporary transformation into a ghoul. There was a long streak over his otherwise well-built chest, a shorter scar was overlapping to give it the shape of an X.

His pants were still muddy with the soil of the Youkai Academy's woods.

Carefully, Tsukune got up and dusted himself a little to explore the ruined area around him. It was quiet and calm. A surreal room, almost like something out of a fairytale. He would give more thought as to why there was a sun of that particular color, but truth be told, he had seen stranger things.

The stranger was gone now for the moment. The first thing that Tsukune had started to think about, aside from his own hunger, was taking the silence and privacy of the large room he was in to think and to plan. Sitting upright in a cross-legged position on his leafy bed, he rested a hand against his cheek and stared at the statue closest to him. The only statue without a single flaw. Its slender hands were clasped together in a prayer's pose, and a feminine face smiled politely back at him. Angel wings were spread to either side as it continued to silently watch him.

'_That man…or whatever he was brought me here. I just know it. And if he's not with me…then what was the point of coming here? I just needed some guidance. About how I should handle Moka-san. That was all…'_

It was then he had started to realize what a fool he was being. _Guidance?_ From a person he didn't even know? Was he losing his senses by the minute? The chance that this stranger wanted to do him harm was just as high as if he wanted to help him – no strike that – even higher. It wasn't like he hadn't been through this kind of thing before. He had hoped he would have learned his lesson after he had decided to trust that Ueshiba so quickly, who was revealed to be a member of ANTI-THESIS shortly after. That only started a chain of betrayals, because good friends of his were members too. He thought he'd learn, but _nooooo._ He had to trust just one more time. Sooner or later, this little habit would be the end of him.

He gripped his hair with frustration, falling into a depressed demeanor. He raised his head to continue looking at the statue across from him. The female angel kept smiling. The face's gentle expression reminded him not of the Inner Moka, but of the Outer. But being reminded of Outer Moka in turn would remind him of her dangerous counterpart.

'_Moka-san…even though I can hardly say I understand you…how you could have been so cruel…'_

These were the makings of a statement he would reserve just for her, should he ever see her again.

He stood up on his legs and stared on.

"_Thou art awake."_

Tsukune jumped. He spun around frantically trying to find the source of the whisper. He came upon statue after statue, all staring at him from their pedestals, some faceless, some not. His head spun and spun looking for the person that he knew had brought him here.

"Where are you? Who's there?"

A pause.

"_Thou soundeth healthier…more…full of life… How quant."_ The whisper bounced off of the walls everywhere. There was no tracing it.

"Huh?"

He heard footsteps behind him clicking against the stony floor. Tsukune slowly turned his head to face a tall shape moving slowly towards from the darkness behind the columns. It stepped into the light. Tsukune was blinded for a brief moment from a flash coming off of the stranger's footwear. Apparently he was wearing something metal.

Tsukune winced, but recomposed his vision, and his eyes were set about a long cloak as black as the void. It instantly reminded him of Ruby's master, whom they had confronted when they first met her. There were tatters all over the cape and the sleeves had pieces of the cloth practically shredded and hanging down, but still concealed the person's hands. His hood was up to make the face nothing short of a riddle that Tsukune wanted to solve, and as he looked at the opening, he saw long clouds of breath coming through the passage, like the kind that you would breathe on a wintry morning. But the temperature in the area was perfect, so how could that be true?

'_Wh-what's up with this guy? He's got me so unnerved. So scary!'_

The sleeves of the dark apparel hung loosely like long appendages drifting to and fro, and the figure stepped closer to further narrow the distance between he and the boy. With each step, his apparel became more detailed in Tsukune's eyes. Through the black color he could see tears and holes in the robes, like he had worn it since the Beginning of Time. The column of the cloth below his hood was outlined by a long row of golden feathers, and he moved as if he was nothing tangible under that dusky shroud.

He stopped a few yards away and stared. His ominous cloak was drenched in the light of the sun; the cloud of breath escaping from under his hood was now a stunning bright blue. Just what _was_ he?

The tension in the atmosphere was enough to make Tsukune break it.

"Ah, I'm forgetting my manners! Excuse me, please!" Tsukune bobbed his head down a couple of times in a goofy respect to the tall pile of rags standing up in front of him. The figure remained silent, keeping perfectly still. Another stream of icy breath escaped from under the shadowy hood. "I'm Aono Tsukune. I'm a student of the Youkai Academy. You've heard of it right?"

Silence.

Tsukune felt a bit discouraged, but didn't give up. "You must've! Aren't you the one who brought me here from that place?"

The hood nodded slightly.

Tsukune felt an utter need to know the dark shape's name, but tried to play around with subjects to seem less abrupt and pressing. "So…what is this place exactly?" He asked, fidgeting for an answer.

This time, the concealed being decided to answer, though he drew exasperation while doing so. _"I welcometh thee, Aono Tsukune, to Paradise."_

The boy's eyes widened. _'Paradise…'_ "I don't understand how I got here. Before, I lost my way and fell into someplace completely dark."

"_Thou hath nearly fallen. I admonished thee about consequences that may unfurl, should thou taketh mine hand with such frail tendency, so I…"_

"…You what?"

The tall garb motioned with its tattered sleeve at Tsukune's left arm. Following the gesture, his attention shook alive at a hand as pale as Mizore's naturally snowy white skin. In peering at it, ice shot through his shoulder and delivered a chilling shiver directly into his spine. He got down on one knee in astonishment. It was a completely new type of pain, one that he had never felt before, but it still hurt like hell.

"You…what did you do?!"

The black shape in front of him shrugged. _"That is what is to pay for such inconsideration. Thou, whom art already feeling the effects of this realm, should hath laid thy hand unto mine while brimming with much more confidence. 'Twas the impression thou hath given me, but now I see…'twas farce…and nothing more. But then again, and even so, I expected not a…"_ He slowly halted, and placed a sleeve up to the opening of its hood in a manner of deep thought.

Tsukune winced up at him. "…what…" He grunted out through a frigid voice, trying to keep his body temperature together.

The sleeve lowered back to his side in the normal pose. _"Nay. Pay it no heed. Thy hand shall relinquish to normal color, rest assured. The only thing that piques concern is the nightmares, but lo and behold…"_

Tsukune couldn't tell if he was speaking to him any more than to himself. He looked far too…out of it.

"Hnh…nightmares?" He ventured curiously.

"_Oh, pay it little heed, fair child, thou shall see it for thyself…best it be later than sooner, I doth suppose… Now then, about why thou hast cometh."_

"No," he pressed. "Tell me."

"_Nay, I shan't. 'Tis a trial, a challenge of pandemonium unseen to findeth for thyself. That which doth not slay thee shall make thee mightier. Consider it an unplanned gift, child." _

The hooded being stared at him through an invisible expression and raised a tray with something steaming on top of it to his chest from out of nowhere. Tsukune's eyes brightened. The smell emitting from it was unbelievably mouth-watering. Suddenly, he forgot all about what happened to his arm and the previous conversation.

"Wh-where did that come from?" He asked in bewilderment.

The cloak gently set it to the ground in front of hidden feet and with equal delicacy, slide it across the stone floor of the temple. "_Dine."_ The whisper quietly commanded.

"Oh-oh! You made me breakfast? Thank you!" Tsukune looked down at the silverish tray supporting the sizzling body of some dangerous looking fish creature. It had jagged fangs jutting out through its lips like a barracuda, and bore an everlasting glare through the eye up at him. Tsukune shuddered at its ugly face. "Um…if you don't mind me asking…what kinda fish is this, exactly?"

"_Lochstress larvae. A marine organism that can be found in the warm spring rivers miles off. 'Twas once treacherous, but now dead, and I hath rended the venomous spines diligently from the carcass for thee. Just bare mindfulness to the teeth – there is venom yet stored inside of the bone."_

"Venom?!" He responded on guard. "You mean this meal can kill me?"

"_As what was explicated, the teeth, child. Lochstress attack their usually larger prey with a potent poison fivefold the effect of cobra venom. Avoid them. And forgive for the lack of dining tradition, for it appears that there are no eating apparatuses for thee to feast with." _

By this moment, Tsukune was struggling to look cool about such unusual hospitality. He was naturally accepting of even strange customs, but having a cooked dish that could take him out was sort of a drawing line. However, being the gentleman (and to put bluntly, fool) that he always was, he would suck it up and persevere.

"Ah, no worries. It's actually good to have somebody around who doesn't mind – sometimes it just seems better to eat without the fancy appliances, know what I mean?" The cloak continued to stand there waiting for him. "Usually I don't get many opportunities to act so much like a kid again, in high school, more is expected out of you."

"_Hmph…I have not attended a high school in…a long time."_

Tsukune nodded his head hesitantly and looked down at his breakfast. The meal sitting in front of him near the leafy surface of his bed carried the hunger-awakening smell of his personally favorite dish from his favorite sushi bar that his parents would take him to on special occasion. It was because it was so pricy to visit. But there was a difference between those times and this one: he was getting the meal for free.

He smiled wolfishly up at his tall host. "Itadakimasu!" He stated cheerfully, using the proper eating etiquette he grew up with.

The shape turned his head for a brief moment and then responded in his silent whisper the only response that he deemed appropriate, _"God bless you."_

Tsukune turned his head in a bit of confusion at the misuse of occasion, but shrugged it off and continued eying the steaming, cool-colored scales on the side of the morsel, doing his best to remember about the hazardous teeth. Still, the steam had his nose tingling with delight, and he wasn't about to refuse an offer when he hadn't eaten in what seemed well over a week. Picking it up gently off the tray with both hands, he searched for a nice soft place to sink in. He found one off the side, and prepared to assert himself.

But all of the pleasant morning features exploded in his face as he was blindsided with incredible force by something small.

"MAAAAAASTERRRRRRRR!!" Shouted a male, riley voice with utmost glee.

"Uwaaahh!" Tsukune flew trailing dust right into a pillar, knocking it down and becoming submerged in rubble and smoke. Meanwhile, the swift, tiny bolt of black sped like a jet for the fish-like meal that would have become Tsukune's a moment later.

The creature gripped for the head with infinitesimal legs and flew high over to the cloaked figure staring blankly onward. "You found me a meal, chuu!" It concluded with the fish dangling underneath while it zealously flapping its wings overhead.

A distance away, Tsukune was seeing wheels spinning. He groaned in delirium, holding his head and shaking off the shock from being tackled like a victim of the quarterback in his old high school. "So powerful…" His vision cleared, and he saw the black spot looming in midair with his breakfast next to the ominously tall wanderer. Approaching woozily for a better look, he saw a small, pitch-black bat continuing to actively flap its wings with the fish. His eyes widened at the sight of the two red dots making up the eyes; a chibi-style smile was wrapped underneath them.

"Hey…you look a lot like…" Tsukune narrowed his eyes while he was trying to remember the resemblance. He snapped his fingers when he did. "…that chibi bat that always narrates the fights with Moka-san in the academy."

The dark-robed man's cold aura seemed to come slowly alive. _"Whom…?"_

"Ah, just this bat that announces fights back where I'm from, sorta' like a referee–"

"_Nay, nay, child. The name that thou hath brought to light also. Who is…?"_

Tsukune was startled by his ability to pick up on other details. It wasn't intended to bring _her_ up. "Oh her, well she's…"

"Say, you picked a fine specimen!" The cute yet somehow malicious-looking bat interrupted, breaking away from his nibbling on the morsel's head. By this point, he was perched on the mysterious man's shoulder, wings folded over to hold the food steady. "I thought the River was supposed to be miles and miles away, chuu!"

Tsukune wasn't joking when he said that the small mammal looked like Koumori Nazo, the narrating bat. Any chibi fan would recognize the tiny hamster on a pair of wings that would engulf the camera shouting what monster so-and-so was, followed by a summary. When Moka won the fight, he was the first one to rush in and out, shouting 'The time of this fight was one whole second!!' Wow. One second longer than the last fight…

"_That meal was reserved for the guest of honor, Selzix, thou troublesome bat…"_

"Ah! You don't say!" The tiny mammal answered with his cheeks stuffed. "But I haven't eaten in nearly an hour! You should know that the key procedure for a bat keeping fit and healthy comes with three steps. Eating, sleeping, and…" He stopped his rapid-paced talking to pluck out the glaring eye of the marine animal with his mouth. "…eating, chuu!"

"You said eating twice." Tsukune spoke up with his index fingers pressing together in a nervous pose. "And waaaaasn't that supposed to be…um…_my_ breakfast?" He muttered before attempting to force a laugh.

The tiny tater-shaped bat snapped his head to look at the high school student whose meal he just robbed. "Sorry yosomono-kun, but the procedure grants me access to seven meals a day. These things must be handled certain ways! Just be thankful I didn't mention eating five more times."

"_I fear that Selzix cannot bear with his own soul to miss out on even one of his more important feedings…"_ The whisper under the hood mumbled.

"That's correct, chuu! And I'm not about to slow it down now for a…" He trailed off, and his red eyes flashed like flares for a moment. He took off of his master's shoulder and flapped hastily yet warily to the student, eying him sharply with the meal still in his grasp. "Just…what kinda ayashi are you?" He asked inquisitively.

Tsukune was a bit shocked by the question, not really wanting to announce so soon that he wasn't a monster, but a human. From having heard Inner Moka use the word so harmfully the last time he saw her, he was growing to hate it by the sec. "I'm a…uh…umm…ehh…I mean…" The two black bodies continued to watch him struggle over his words for half a minute.

Suddenly, he heard his stomach growl noisily. He swiftly cuffed a hand over his bare belly and felt his skin go white. _'Oh, oh no! I still haven't eaten! I'm starving, and when I'm starving, I can't think straight! This is no good!!'_

The pressure on the boy was building like water on one side of a dam about to split. He struggled and struggled, feeling around for an answer. Racking his brain to the limits, he felt the temperature get a degree warmer every second, and the beads of sweat that were starting to go down his cheek were showing it. "I'm a…" At last, he blurted out the ultimate first word that came to his head…and he instantly ended up regretting it. "GHOUL!!" He instantly slapped his hand dumbly over his mouth, feeling incredibly sheepish for the outburst and name choice.

Both of the other figures were quiet. So here he was, practically confessing to being a flesh-eating zombie in front of two threatening advocates of death, wearing nothing but a pair of muddy pants. _'And now comes the part where I start to feel awkward.'_ It was a casual thought. One that came into his head at least four times every other day in the Youkai Academy – including at least one for every girl knew in the whole school.

Selzix's red dots of eyes increased threefold. "Ahahaha…a…_what?_" He squeaked out uneasily after another half second.

Tsukune swallowed in a guttural gulp.

With nothing more said, the bat fluttered hastily again to his master's side and perched on the ragworn shoulder, crouching near the hood's opening. "Master," he whispered apprehensively, "I know that it could just be the cool breeze I get from getting so close to you ruffling my fur, but…um…we should do something. This really isn't good."

The cloaked figure gazed on silently at his guest's long scar across his torso. _"Agreed."_ The whisper dragged back.

Then the hood turned its position to set its invisible sight upon a tiny rock sitting to his side. With no gestures used, nor words spoken, the tiny pebble darted itself off of the ground and up his dark, dangling sleeve.

Tsukune's eyes widened in awe. "Amazing powers…"

The shrouded creature then tossed the stone effortlessly up to his feet. It rolled against the floor and tapped against his foot before stopping. He looked down at it, half expecting it to spontaneously combust in his face. It didn't. Was this stranger really as much of a hardass as he looked?

Somewhat disappointed, Tsukune pulled his face back up to meet with the black tattered hood completely blocking his view. In a split second, the mysterious being had moved silently, diligently to being from half the room away to nothing more than an inch away from him.

Tsukune grunted loudly and fell back on his leaf bed. The disheveled robe knelt down over him and breathed a long fog of blue in his face. He caught some of it with his nose, and just a tiny whiff made him feel…drowsy.

'_Wh-what is this…stuff…sleep…powder…?'_ His head bobbed for a moment, but he quickly came to. Looking back up into the darkness of the hood where a face lay hidden, he felt his own body rumbling. _'I'm…trembling? Is that because I'm sensing that this person is…very powerful?'_ He tried to speak, but couldn't.

The hood sank in a bit closer to get a good look at the boy's frightened expression. Tsukune heard the unsettling loud noise of inhales…exhales…_inhale_…_exhale_…

"_Aono…Tsssssukune…"_ The temperature around them dropped twenty degrees. Instantly, Tsukune felt the very effects of only this specter's voice on him – like the worst frost that refused to thaw.

"Mm! Mm-hm…?" He responded with the confidence of a kitten right in front of a T-rex.

"_Come with me."_ The voice was more insidious than ever before, and Tsukune thought that he heard an ulterior voice echoing in the background. The entire shape instantly hovered away with the hood still turned towards him, and then glided to the light opening of a doorway, the shining black bat on his right shoulder.

Tsukune was left alone in the silence of the morning once again, the unnatural orange sun beaming its rays down upon his bare back. It felt like he was getting called to a corner.

"Ah. I guess I've officially worn out my welcome." He hung his head. _'Suuure, calling yourself a ghoul, no one around you'll mind. Come on, stupid, stupid! Aww…and I didn't even get a chance to eat…'_

* * *

Youkai Academy was in session, and right now, Akashiya Moka and the other girls were _bored._ Completely, utterly, top-of-the-feel bored. Since Tsukune was absent, the class wasn't nearly as fun to be in. In fact, they each wondered how they could have survived first semester without him. Half of the trouble was deciding which one would become partners with him, the other half was duking it out in a fight to the death…to decide which one would become partners with him. That's high school.

Kurumu rested an arm against her face, her face revealing a disinterest that she normally saved for one of the drooling fanboys that hit on her nearly every trip she made from this class to the next. Now she could somewhat see what they felt like. As energetic as a _neko-musume_ could be, listening to Shizuka's lecture without something to gawk at…was just a plain, flat-out bitch. Half out of mind, she brushed her hand slightly through her radiant light blue hair, and continued to daydream about the man that she knew for certain would one day become hers, and hers alone.

A desk away, Yukari was sitting up straight like the golden shining star that everyone was aware that she was. She didn't know why, but she was rather happy that she seemed to be the only one who held any appreciation for school. Just to her, that meant that she enjoyed doing what she was good at. And, to not be taken out of context, it was good to be the best. The best at something. _The_ best.

However, she had also felt a bit dreary noticing that Tsukune was absent from the class, because with only Moka, it was only half the fun. Even though she disregarded him as nothing more than a pervert when they had first met, she grew equally attached to him as she had with Moka. Considering that it was one of the only boys that she had befriended since the beginning of the year, that really didn't seem like something worth losing.

She shrugged off of her silent thoughts and resumed her participation in the lecture.

And yet another desk away from her was that ice goddess, Mizore. She was always more of the silent type, but everyone had also probably known what would be on her mind. There was no hiding it, and she wasn't about to try. She didn't care what others thought. Only of what _he_ thought.

She could shout out to the world that she was plain freakin' in love with him if that would get him to become hers, and considering her shyness around others, that was really saying something. Yet, she paid no attention to fairytales, so it just looked like she would have to strive for a way to win him over, herself.

She picked up the thin pen that she kept in the corner of her desk with her fingertips. She held it up in front of her face.

Nothing was going to get between her and the one she loves.

Her eyes glowed in an enchanting blue, and the writing utensil in front of her froze instantly into a long, pointed needle of ice.

_Nothing._

"Ah, Shirayuki-chan! Please refrain from using all youkai abilities during session!" Nekonome stated nervously, halting the lecture briefly. "Keep all powers restricted, _pllllease!_"

Mizore emotionlessly took the sucker out of her mouth to answer her teacher. "Eh, sorry sensei. I was having a small relapse."

The teacher's eyes remained shut, but her cat ears twitched comically. "…Are you still taking the pills that your psychologist assigned?" She quickly asked with a straight face.

"Yes, I'm still taking the anti-anxiety pills."

The teacher instantly made a foxy smile to show drastic change in her brief concern. She threw a leg up in the air behind her to exercise her restored mood. "Fabulous! No worries then! Aheheh! Now moving on…"

As her conversation drifted in the background, Moka sat in her assigned spot, trapped in her own thoughts.

'_Tsukune has never been absent in class before… Did something happen?'_ A tiny voice in the back of her head said yes. _'…could it have been…something that I did?'_ She gripped her rosary pendant around her neck and flashed a small glare down at the scarlet gem in the center. _'No…'_ she concluded in her thoughts. _'…something that __you__ did…isn't it?'_

The rosario didn't respond, but she knew it as just facts. She didn't mean to hurt him, but how could she control what the _other_ her did? Her powers are crazy as it is.

Her grip on the rosary let go. She looked mournfully down at her empty desk. _'Tsukune…'_

The bell rang.

Looking up in alert, Nekonome announced with her arm thrown out wide to the side, "Okay kids! Meet back here first thing in the morning with bright-looking faces, 'cause we gots a quiz ready to gooo! Yahoo!"

There was a wide commotion of groans, and soon after, the class was devoid of students.

Moka hauled her small backpack on and joined the small circle that she and the others formed to go to their next class. There she saw Kurumu crossing her arms in a stern pose.

"I just don't get it," she heard her say as she continued over, "Tsukune's never really been absent before, has he? I mean he's been late a few times, but…"

"Ne? A _few_ times, desu. He's been tardy every day through at least half of each semester."

The succubus ran her knuckle into the pointed hat of the younger witch, who yelped in pain. "Not my point, brat! And stop _calling_ me that! I'm saying that even though he may not always make the first bell, he always shows up regardless."

"I think we know who we can talk to about that…" Mizore calmly hinted with the sucker to one side of her mouth. She turned around to peer at the vampire from the side along with the rest of the girls. "…Akashiya Moka."

"Huh?!" Moka abruptly stopped and put her hands up in front of herself. "What did I do?"

"Don't play the fools' game with us, Moka. Everyone saw what went on yesterday, and you had a front row seat."

Moka realized almost instantly what she was getting at, and she hung her head in shame. "I know…" But then it snapped up. "But I _swear!_ I couldn't do _anything _to prevent it from happening! That was the other Moka – not me!"

The others looked at her with each their own faces – Kurumu, a bit unforgiving, Yukari, as if trying to make it look like she understood, and Mizore, always devoid of any emotion.

"Whether it was one, the other, or both, you are both still you, Moka." Kurumu stated, holding her index finger up in a matter-of-factly pose. She then began to drift away, leaving the rest of the group behind to go out into the hallway to her next class. "As a girl, you adore him, but as a vampire, you beat the hell out of him. …So you'd better pray long and hard that Tsukune doesn't have changed feelings the next time he sees you…" She turned back from the doorway to give her one last heated glance over her shoulder. "…if he even wants to see you at all."

She walked into the hallway, ignoring the vampire as she persisted to shout, "It's not my fault!!" But the succubus was already gone. "…I would never purposely hurt Tsukune…"

Turning to the others, she saw Yukari shrugging her shoulders, but she finally said, "I believe you, Moka-san. Don't pay any attention to what big-breasted desu tells you. She's probably just in a bad mood from hauling all that weight around on her chest, _all_ the time. It can _do_ things. You'll find a way to resolve this." Pause. "…Actually, we all will! Hug!!" Before the pink-haired S – Class could respond, Yukari had already wrapped herself around her waist, nearly knocking her off of her feet. Shortly after, she jumped off and left the group with a cheerful skip.

It was only the vampire and the yuki onna, now. Mizore ran her fingers through her ice-coated hair, giving her an indifferent look. "Well, at least the thrashing lasted for more than one second, right?" She spoke plainly. Moka's guilt had long reached the brim. Leaving her head hanging, the snow enchantress ambled slowly out, only turning back to say, "If it's Tsukune, I'm sure he'll understand. Just give him a while to recover – physically…and mentally. I know that you mean well for him, but what that _other_ you put him through was no little thing. …Anyway, see you next period."

With that, she walked out into the hall crowded with identically green uniforms. The room that Moka was standing in was now empty, except for her.

If she was given a chance to answer her vouch, she still wouldn't take it. She continued to look down at the tiled floor, her grip around the rosary tightened.

"Tsukune…I don't care what the others tell me…I want to see you again…so please…" She felt tears start to well in her eyes. "Please find it in yourself to forgive me…"

But underneath, she knew that there was something worse to be afraid of than no forgiveness. A lot worse. She knew that she was keeping it bottled up inside, and there she would do her best to avoid thinking about it. She had gotten a lot of time to know Tsukune, and in most ways, Mizore hit the nail spot on. But Tsukune was still human in the end, and there is only so much that a human can take, no matter how strong, or how pure of heart.

The thing that Outer Moka feared the most was indeed never to have her closest friend look at her the same way ever again…but _Inner _Moka's deepest, darkest fear – wasn't a simple grudge…

…It was _revenge._

**A/N: Aaaaaannnnnnd do any of you know what day it is?? Yes! It is that day! Everyone getting out of school have a great summer! This chapter is commemorated to the last ringing bell! And might I add that the reviews **_**do**_** help, so for anyone who reviewed that I did not thank, **_**thank you!**_


	3. To Find New Strength

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 3: To Find New Strength**

Tsukune was in no hurry to leave the room he had awoken in to catch up to his strange new drifter of a companion. He dragged hesitantly out towards the coral light of a semi-demolished pass. The scent of spring nature with a hint of sweetening filled his nostrils.

He squinted while trying to adjust to the outside world, having reclined in a dark cavern for Kami knows how long. There he spotted the black stain upon the earth, the stranger, protruding ridiculously blatant to the amazing colors all around. The colors in the soil were stunning formations of red and brown, the sky all around them was littered with bright purple stars, making the sun stand out with its diametric rays of hot-colored light.

…Or should he say _suns._

There was more than one great globe of light filling the sky. The orange one seemed the closest, so its little wonder why that was the light that had caught Tsukune's eyes first. Yet beyond the horizon, a scarlet slither with extraterrestrial stars, he saw a deep-cool blue sun sitting way out yonder, almost lined up perfectly with the dust trails of space.

Just by staring at it, Tsukune felt a chill shoot through his body like a lance. It was as if the temperature just came and went.

He pushed that feeling aside though, knowing that there were worse possible things to be afraid of now that he blurted that he was a ghoul.

Despite the darkness of the sky above, the land before and around him was perfectly lit up and distinguishable. Some of the plants growing around were the healthiest color of green; others were bright red. As he could see, there was a trail the color of Mars behind the shrouded creature. The view of the land beyond was indescribably beautiful. The trees stretching for miles down below had the most stunning mixture of spring, summer, and autumn leaves.

Tsukune was aware that he was nearing the inky black cloak, so he slowed to a complete stop next to it with his tail between his legs, peering out just barely enough to catch a glimpse of the tattered and twisted shape facing the rural and idyllic lands beyond. The sight was breathtaking.

Remaining completely silent, the three of them, Tsukune heard the loud, audible sounds of the tall creature breathing in and out in a blood-curdling echo. There was silence for several moments.

"…So." Tsukune started, not appreciating the tension. But he was smart enough not to bring monster classes into the subject too. "I noticed two suns here…_wherever_ we are, and where that blue sun is sitting on the horizon," he pointed up to it, unaware that the hood had turned to leer intently at the holy limiter that was dangling from his wrist instead. "It looks just to the point where it could be a sunrise or a sunset." The tall hood of the towering figure next to him slowly creaked towards him, producing the sound of ice crackling. Tsukune felt his heart beat faster. "So which is it?" He asked timidly, but nonetheless. "Morning…or evening?"

A bright gemmed golden eye, lacking any pupil, peered stilly at him through the slender gap of the ebony cowl. The bat, Selzix, decided to get up off of the shoulder and flutter about while answering, "It's morning, yosomono-kun. While you took your time getting out here, Master explained to me that you've been dormant for almost half a week!"

Tsukune completely forgot about any possible trouble he might be in. There were more…important things to worry about. "H-half a week?!" He spat out, gripping his hair in a panic and scrambling around the site like a crazed gerbil without a wheel. "I need to get back to the academy if it's been almost a week! The others'll worry for me, and my grade – oh my gr- oh my grade- the grade – I'm in a tight spot as it is!!"

"Woah, woah, slow down there, kid! You can't go anywhere near an urban place if you're a ghoul."

Tsukune would have protested to the statement, but first decided to take a different approach. "Wait, aren't you…_afraid_ of me?"

The bat shrugged. "Meh, you don't look too threatening. So long as you're not hungry, I suppose that –"

"I _am_ hungry!" He comically lashed out, completely outraged at the statement, "I keep trying to tell you that you took my meal! If I hadn't eaten in half a week, it does no wonder to why my stomach's about to digest itself!"

The black bat sweat-dropped in alarm, "Oh well why didn't you mention, chuu…" He mumbled quietly as he fluttered back off-screen.

"Have I seriously, I mean, was I really out for…half a week?"

"_Aye, thou were. Thy body served no pleasantries whilst being switched over to a different realm. However, being that as a ghoul, thy ground shouldeth stood firmer by means of sufferance. The undead are typically…better-rounded for that sort of feat. Even the ghouls. But fear not for the element of Time. For you see, time passes exceptionally faster in this dimension than in the one that thou may already know."_

"You said that I was out for half a week, then does that mean half a week in _this_ particular time zone?"

"_Aye."_

Tsukune heaved a great breath of relief. "Then what about my school's time zone? How long has it been?"

"…_In contrast between that particular realm and this one…a day and a half. Six months in twelve -- that is the ratio of time between thy world and ours. That is why we have only two seasons and six months; three months in a season. That is how the timetable is assembled to keep in the flow with thine."_

Tsukune had a stern expression about being given this information. _'So in other words, time here passes twice as fast as in the Youkai Academy. I really got mixed into it _big,_ this time!'_

"_But do not fret,"_ The whisper continued. _"Though thou shall exist by the rules of the fabric of time hither, thy age shall progress naturally, for thou art not of this place. Or doth age really concern thee, being as thou is?"_

"Ah, yeah, that's a relief. Listen, you told me this place was called 'Paradise', right? Just…what sort of a place is it? I mean it couldn't really be the _Paradise_ paradise, am I right? If that were the case, I would have to be dead."

"_Who is to say that thou hath not departed long ago? Thou art a ghoul, lest you not forget."_

Tsukune quickly realized that this whole ghoul charade might not turn out in his worst favor after all. What if this guy were a real ghoul? He seemed to be speaking casually to him in spite of the fact that Tsukune had told him about it. Maybe he should play with it a bit longer.

"Ah, yeah, of course, what am I saying?" He said in his best joking manner. "I just meant that am I…_dead_ dead? You know, the kind of dead where you don't get up and start lurching around? I guess what I'm trying to ask is, have I been killed a _second time?_"

The person seemed to contemplate his question. _"I see it no good to speak otherwise. Perhaps thou needeth find out for thyself. Either dead…or…'dead' dead, thou shall have the rest of thy _afterlife_ to find out."_

"And what about you?" He asked. "Pardon, but I've already given my own name, as common courtesy spells. Do you have a name, or do you just go by Death here, or…"

The black shape scoffed in humor. _"Call me what thou may. Grim Reaper, Shinigami,__ Giltinė,__ Angel of Death, simply _Death_ if you must. Make a selection, though if none satisfy thee, then simply advert my name as Garan."_

Tsukune looked up at him. Smiling that he was opening up but a little, Tsukune stated happily, "Garan. Alright, I got it. Thank you."

The creature eyed his behavior suspiciously. _"Let us make haste. We must return before nightfall, lest the Ones Beneath the Hills haveth their way."_

Tsukune's smile went away at the warning. "The ones beneath the…"

"Oh!! Pay no attention to that little name, yosomono!" Selzix frantically rushed to cut him off by flying right in front of his face, blocking his whole view. "That's simply a, uh…a line that he was quoting from a book! Yes, that'll do! It's an expression that means to wait too long results in only, um, vain expiration. That is what it means, chuu."

Tsukune crinkled his forehead with chagrin while the bat fluttered over to Garan. He tried to whisper so that Tsukune couldn't hear. "What in the Mercy of Mary are you going on about talking about the strays to a guy we barely know? Master, this is advised against!"

A draped sleeve came up in front of him, and the small mammal instantly hushed up. _"Nay…"_ His line of sight never left the shirtless boy in front of him. _"…I will entrust in him. 'Twas no being, man nor monster, that I could personally confide in for eons. He may in turn prove beneficial. Only a touch in the right direction, 'tis all it takes, and he may even go so far as to help us in the upcoming belligerency."_

"Th-that's just it!" He whispered hastily back. "The war starts very, very soon, Garan-sama! We need more able bodied soldiers to work with than just this…primitive flesh-eater! It is true that ghouls are ferocious, but they're slow-moving and unpredictable, and they only ever work well when they ambush or attack in packs! You can't make us go through with the likes of them, can you? I mean…" The bat turned and narrowed his beady eyes on Tsukune, whose spirits were becoming downed from being left out yet again from another conversation. "…what if he turns out to be like one of _them?_ _The Ones Beneath the Hills,_ chuu_?_" He finished whispering even more confidential than before.

"_See in his eyes. What eyes! They hold naught of happiness, but nor wrath, either. He saves no bloodthirsty dagger for plunging our hearts, nor did teeth bore for our throats. He is utterly weak. Feeble. Infirm. Insubstantial…"_

"Oii…insubstantial…" The small glasslike bat looked woozy. "Garan no Danna uses such big words…"

"_He seeks to do us no harm. Teaching this young boy to become strong means to raise a great lion from a cub. What looks innocent becomes deadly later."_

"Who are you referring to now?" Selzix asked, entertained by the fact that there appeared to be a similarity. "That boy…or yourself?"

A long draw of breath echoing in and out was the answer. They both turned back to watch Tsukune continue to fidget with the wait. As they continued to watch, he let his mind wander with his eyes to a tiny black butterfly fluttering around him with treacherous barb-like wings. He really did look like some innocent little animal that was just introduced to the wilderness out of the den.

Then, the Master turned back hastily to his smaller companion, as if he were in a huge rush. _"How indeed doth a king raise his army? By letting the children of his kingdom grow into fine young men to which shall be trained into ferocious manslayers. 'Tis the way of war. Nigh, I see that the time has come for this young child to stop being a child, and to open up to a reality entirely different."_ They continued watching, Selzix perched on Garan's shoulder, the horned butterfly atop Tsukune's shoulder. It was almost a type of symbolism reflecting how very much alike the two might appear. The shroud repeated, _"Thou hath seen his eyes. What eyes. Hast thou ever seen such melancholy? His heart strucketh by grief's hammer, his shards lay in the unforgiving dust; laid to waste by a heinous act. …Yet he is so very strong at keeping such misery confidential to his own self."_

The butterfly, bearing its malevolent mixture of bright red and darkest black colors with the patterns of a stain glass window, fluttered from the blade of Tsukune's bare shoulder up to the tip of his nose, where it sat and perched for a while. He was a bit surprised at first, but the tiny legs of the butterfly tickled him, and he ultimately sneezed the insect off of his face.

"_He could be the one…"_

It fluttered up towards the painted sky while everyone looked up to watch it go.

Before tending back to Tsukune, he finished speaking to the mammal with one last thing. _"For now, I feel that he must get stronger. I have strong belief that he desires strength, and strength is what he hast come for."_

The cape ambled towards Tsukune with the cold mist carrying behind, and a group of bright red and blue flowers withered mysteriously as he strode by. Tsukune, snuffling his nose, looked shiny-eyed up at him.

"Ummm…am I in trouble?" He asked it as innocently as he looked. He didn't know who to trust. At this point in time, how did he know they weren't conspiring against him?

"…_Wait hither."_

The boy reached out to answer, but the rags had already begun drifting down the incredibly steep red dust path, ahead into the wilderness below. His ebony clothes soon disappeared into the shadows of the canopy, leaving Tsukune and Selzix on the high lookout of the ruined temple.

Selzix flapped his lengthy wings in such a way that the rays of the orange and blue suns alike reflected off and through the black shining bat as if he were made of luster. He carefully and steadily landed on top of Tsukune's bear shoulder and curled up into roosting position. The wings tucked in nicely and neatly, he continued to watch him with his beady red eyes.

"Ah, he left me again…"

"Yosomonooooooooooo-kun," the bat beckoned softly over next to him, making the name itself drag on and the suffix _–kun_ at the end come short. The boy turned his head curiously to meet up with the tiny bat's face.

"You don't have to keep calling me yosomono. It's Tsukune. Aono Tsukune."

The creature took a moment to configure the detail to his memory. After a moment, "Yosomono-kun, keep in mind that this is my first time speaking with…what you are…-heck I didn't even know that ghouls could talk until today, so even though your brain might not pick up, before you go on ahead after my master, I should give you a tiny notice."

Tsukune ignored the small 'brain' comment, believing that it was not entirely deliberate for insult, but also because he didn't necessarily go into the category of what he was critiquing. "Hm?"

"That man that's accompanying you is a very great being. His name is Garandou the Tragic. He once was a missionary that originated from a place called Salem. Rrrringabell?" He trilled.

Tsukune pressed a finger to his chin and gave it a little thought. He turned back to the Geography class that he attended in the Human World for a while, and he commemorated some if not most of the capitals in the U.S. to memory. One of the capitals was Salem.

"Hmmm…Salem, Oregon, U.S.A. Sound about right?"

The bat smiled festively and nodded his head rapidly several times to signify his answer. "Correct! Pretty sharp thinking for a corpse! Surprisingly articulate too! Chuu!"

"Well what the heck is he doing way out here?"

"Well, uhh," he didn't look at all too confident in telling him exactly how his master managed to wind up in another realm so far away from his homeland. "…You'll just have to ask him yourself. It's really not my place."

"Wait – that bleak form of a shadow? He was once a priest?"

The bat's charisma instantly jumped a whole level. "And a damn good priest for a while! As the legend goes, he once exercised a demon from a young maiden himself at the age of twelve, chuu!"

"Wow…"

"Yeah he was the good guy for a while, _but,_" The bats face instantly gloomed down to seriousness, "don't take his previous occupation and accomplishments to heart too heavily. He is not at all what he once seemed…"

Tsukune looked at him a bit funny. "Well I did gather that around the fifth second I spent with him, although the creeping whispers that he keeps communicating with misled me a little for his alignment with God…"

"Then maybe it's for the best that you don't antagonize his cruel nature." The way he was saying it, Tsukune never would've imagined that a chibi figure could speak so…darkly. "You think that death is the worst thing the world has to offer? Peh. Here, in the very corner of the universe, the edge of the cosmos… You still have fear to learn. He may be old…but he knows all too well how a mind works -- how a _soul_…works. He instills fear in the hearts of all things…"

There was a low moan emulating darkly from the pitch black darkness of the wooded area below. The rustling of leaves. The snapping of a twig. Something was down there. Something was moving.

Selzix was whispering silently to him now, and Tsukune could fear the cold breath coming into his ear. _"Man and witch and _vampire_…"_ Tsukune cringed at the last name. "None can truly be called innocent in his eyes. Not truly. He knows the sins of the world…and he breaks them with no remorse. That to you is my warning."

Tsukune's fearful trance never left the clearing of trees way down below where the being had disappeared to. "I consider myself warned…and I'll be careful."

The woods below howled and moaned, instilling a malevolence, and fear swept Tsukune once more as he saw a long, huge jet of cursed black spew forth from the clearing where the man had left them and shoot straight up the hill after them. It was coming in too fast to side step, and Tsukune shut his eyes tight, fearing that it would ram right into him. The dark storm sped up through the path like a freight train, kicking red dust everywhere, and right before it hit Tsukune, the devastating whirlwind…stopped.

Tsukune opened his eyes fearfully, and was met up by a terrifying face glaring hatefully at him with razor sharp fangs bared.

"AH!" Tsukune staggered backwards into the ground with shock. But when he looked back up, he recognized the scaled beast that was served for him no more than half an hour ago. Holding it forward to him with the hands of a skeleton was the hooded entity of Garan.

"A, uh, another one of those larval guys?" He asked after catching his breath.

The hood did not spare him a single glance. It was completely facing the ground, but he had both great sleeves of arms outstretched to the nerve-wracked student with his meal.

"_Even ghouls must feed, or they wane in strength and flesh eventually. 'Tis no small child of a morsel, but let it be enough."_

Tsukune got up to examine it for a while and found that there were conveniently no spines. This man, Garan, had taken it upon himself to remove the life threats all over again, despite thinking that he is that undead monster, ghoul, who would be otherwise insusceptible.

He didn't know how to approach a guy who he just received such a hefty warning about, so he simply spoke with what was on his mind.

"I…dunno what to say." Tsukune choked out.

"_O for the Glory of Heaven, say _nothing,_ child. Only take the damned fish."_ The hollow voice reeked with impatience. He was already growing tired with his guest's naïve quality.

Tsukune did as he was told, letting out a sheepish chuckle. Taking it steady with both hands around the slender body, he looked back up to the tall figure. "Where do you keep finding these?" He asked inquisitively. Again the refreshing scent of quality sushi rounded about his nose, even managing to cover over the sweet fragrance of the nature around them.

"_The River. North of hither, about two hours' ride."_

He watched with some faint traces of amusement as Tsukune leered conspicuously at the small mammal resting on his shoulder, daring him to steal his food out from under him a second time. The bat fidgeted nervously over his tense expression, and Tsukune jumped right in to his first bite.

The creature wasn't fit to fulfill an entire course meal, that was certain, but one bite out of the fine smelling fish, and Tsukune really did feel like he was thrown into Heaven. It tasted wonderfully, like a mixture of chicken and shrimp, seasoned to absolute perfection. He could feel the tanginess and mild spiciness alike tingle every bud in his mouth as he let the first bite slide down his throat.

This was when his strange companion seized the moment to inform him, _"However, we are not departing by _ride_ now, art we, though?"_

Tsukune gagged on the pieces of his meal. "Wha-hut!" He crackled with a mixture of effort and bewilderment. "C-can't this wait until after I finish eating??"

"_Follow. With haste, and make ready. Thy story begins nigh, Aono Tsukune."_

The still shirtless student looked down at his food, which glared back up at him. Sinking another quick bite into the side before running to catch up with the shrinking black shape, he shouted for him.

"Hey! Questions! I have questions that I want to ask you!"

Garan reared his form around and peered back at him as he hustled over. He waited until Tsukune came to a complete stop before him and answered, _"I did not live to answer questions in my first life; I certainly do not feel to begin nigh."_

Tsukune's head lowered, and he tried forcing a smile. "Ooh…okay."

"You gotta understand Tsukune-kun," The boy's mood lifted a bit at hearing the bat actually use his name this time, "Garan-sama is a strong silent type. I've never _ever_ heard him speak this much before, and frankly, I think he's starting to wear down just because of it!"

The black robe seemed to take chagrin at what his tiny servant was rambling about, so he added, _"But perhaps…if 'tis only _few_ instead of many…"_

Hell that was good enough for our Tsukune. Clapping his hands zealously together once, he quickly ascended to his lively personality. "Okay, okay," he went off like an excited little child taking an extreme interest to something, "first off, how in the world did you manage to snatch this fish, that is, if you said the river was so far away?"

Garandou answered the question with the sophisticated pose of a college teacher answering his students during a lecture. _"'Theoretically, that creature thou holdeth being a fish is not entirely exact, and how I managed to retrieve it in such short span of time…"_

Tsukune leaned in closer to him, his eyes brimming with curiosity. It would be so cool to learn what it was and if he could possibly do it too. From what Selzix explained, this guy really was something else. Just the ominous aura surrounding his figure was proof of that.

Garan waited for the anxiety to build in his already-pupil just a bit longer before concluding with a hidden grin, _"I suppose I am just simply awesome like that, am I not?"_

That answer to Tsukune was a shock to the balls with a kettle prod. That had to be the first joke he had heard him make, and appearance alone, that took him completely by surprise.

With a dropped jaw and a long moment of speechlessness, he concluded his amazement with active hand gestures. "You are the _strangest_ priest I have ever met."

He turned his head to the side in somewhat of a shrug of agreement.

"_Nigh that appellations hath been accounted for, walk with me. Speak of thyself. The road ahead be not so dreary for two wanderers that share words with one another."_

He the tattered shape turned and ambled down the path in that haunting glide that he always seemed to use. Another brilliant flash of light came into Tsukune's eyes briefly, causing him to flinch in retaliation. It appeared to be the metal that Garan wore beneath his sooty garments that gave way to the suns rays for a small instance when the rags wavered.

Tsukune's charming brown eyes watched him move ever deeper into the noiseless canopy of the grove beyond. Then, and only then, he silently followed. He had to.

His bare back, carrying the now sealed wounds of his terrifying encounter with a beautiful female vampire, was the last to disappear into the darkness of the wilderness.

* * *

"Aaarrgh!!" Kurumu shrieked her thoughts out while grabbing at her beautiful naturally blue hair. "This is horrible! Screw one day's absence, Tsukune has never done…_th-this_ to us before!"

The other girls looked over at her, each with their very own expressions of worriment. But what the succubus was doing was stretching it a bit too seriously.

"Chill out," Mizore spoke in her ice-cool tone. "Just because Tsukune's been gone for two days doesn't mean you're never going to see him again."

The class session with Shizuka had just ended, and now everyone had started their way to Kagome Ririko the lamia for their daily migraines of 'healthy' mathematic injection. And that's no exaggeration.

"How do we know – I mean for sure?? He could've been picked off, or made off with some other ayashi chick, or…or…!!"

"Eaten," Yukari announced seemingly enthusiastic, "don't leave out the possibility of being eaten."

"Aaaaaaiiiiiiieee!!"

Mizore ignored her petty squeals. "After Moka thrashed him, he escaped somewhere into the dead-wooded area, we all know that much. I've already searched for hours yesterday looking for a trace. Anyone else?"

The rest responded to the yuki onna with nods, but uncertainty with them. Kurumu, although her eyes were still comically drenched with tears, did the same. It went without saying that each of the girls did more than their fair share of searching desperately for the boy they all adore, and all hunts turned out fruitless. It was as if he had…vanished off of the academy.

Moka, who was with them, would not turn her chin from the ground. Guilt continued to build on her like never felt before. For the past day and a half, she had gone completely silent, devoid of any presence around her, only thinking of what she would say to him when she saw him again.

Yet somehow in the grief of it all, she still managed to work out a question. "He couldn't have…I mean…" She pressed her two index fingers together in a fidgety gesture. "He wouldn't have…left Youkai Academy to go back to his home…could he?"

They all looked at her. "Well if that were the case, he would've hitched a ride by bus to get to the Human Realm." Kurumu began a paced stride to the door. "After school, I'll find the Bus Driver and ask him about it. The rest of you continue scouting the wilderness, and not just the wilderness, the academy too. In fact, Yukari, you take the school grounds since…for some reason, you seem to like it so much…"

The witch prodigy leapt up once while throwing her fist in the air. "Okay! Thank you, desu~!"

The succubus turned to the girl next to her. "Mizore, you ought to ask around the dorm rooms. See if any of the other boys have seen Tsukune the past day."

"Okay."

Both the witch and snow spirit took their leave without another word. They all knew what they were assigned. Even though Kurumu typically flunked most of her school grades, she was a great tactician when it came to something or someone she considered important.

She was about to leave along with them, but Moka reached out to her and hesitantly asked, "Um…Kurumu. What should I do?" The young succubus peered scornfully at her from over her shoulder, facing away with her arms folded. How dare she would request such a thing.

Moka recognized the intensity, but her radiating green eyes held theirs. "…Anything I can do to help?"

Kurono let her glare settle from her mystic eyes a bit longer before speaking.

"No one hurts Tsukune." Her breath was colder than Mizore's.

The vampire could feel herself quiver. Out of most of the group, Kurumu was the one who most frequently demonstrated her feelings for Tsukune through her actual emotions. That meant that she was more passionate, more protective, more everything. And as she had spoken in a vow earlier times before, she would 'never forgive anything that hurts Tsukune.'

"You hurt Tsukune," she said again. "Because of you, my Destined One has gone missing. He could be in danger. I don't care if you knew what you were doing or not…"

Moka closed her eyes fast, but then burst out, "We've been through this before! What happened to Tsukune was what the other me should deem happen. If you wish to complain further, simply have the rosary removed and share your upset feelings with _her_ firsthand!"

"But if I wanted to do such a thing, wouldn't Tsukune need to be here in order for that to happen?"

Akashiya fell into silence again. It was a fair point. The only people around that could do such a thing as to remove her Rosario without harming her was Tsukune…and her father. Just the tiniest flicker of memory of him made a chill run deep through her. There was a reason why Inner Moka approved of his character more than she particularly did. His power was legendary. His cruelty, even more so.

"Yes…" She said quietly.

"Face it, Moka. Whatever that other you does, you do too. The blame is both Mokas' to share, so take responsibility! Until you do so and until we find Tsukune…I'll not forgive you."

She turned and started towards the door, preparing to leave again.

Moka looked away and mumbled something inaudibly.

"…I didn't ask for you to forgive me…"

Kurumu instantly halted at the doorway and a dark aura seemed to rise up slowly all around her. Apparently the 'something' wasn't inaudible enough.

The timid vampire watched before her as the other girl walked up to the point where she was two inches away, eyelevel. Feeling her heart pound her chest mercilessly, Moka shut her eyes tight, fearing for something terrible, but when she finally opened them again, Kurumu was still there, just staring back at her.

From out of nowhere, she smirked.

"If you really want to find Tsukune," she started calmly, but her voice let her know how hard she was trying to keep her attitude under control, "then go search the woods again. If you find him by any chance – _any_ chance, let me know _immediately._"

Moka swallowed and nodded. What choice did she have? What she had defended before remained the truth – she wasn't like Inner Moka. She couldn't deliver kicks that could send people flying for meters before they hit ground again. Not like her. For now, in order to survive, she would have to stay on the fury's good side – and that translated into staying out of her way.

Deep down though, she knew that all Kurumu was doing was caring for him. It was all for him. And Moka knew she would do the same…at least _half_ of her did.

Turning back to face into the hallway, Kurumu backed up a bit when she noticed that Yukari and Mizore had returned, side by side.

Not seizing a moment, the snow enchantress stated nonchalantly, "It looks like the search will have to be delayed for a little while."

The succubus pouted and threw her hands to her hips. "What? And why is that?"

"We have a problem."

"Well, what is it?"

The two responded by side stepping the door to make way for a third person.

Even as that person stepped in, Moka felt her heart stop, her body stiffen, and her skin lose color. She recognized the person instantly. And this could _not_ be happening.

As the newcomer brushed her anime-style pigtails consisting of shining red hair over, a familiar bat roosted comfortably at her shoulder.

Taking a seemingly polite and innocent bow in respect, she stated simply one thing with a cute smile on her face.

"Found you. Big sister."

* * *

Through all of the early morning and most of the afternoon in the world known as Paradise, the hike to the River was long and drawn-out, and the place that they were traveling through, what Garan and Selzix had respectfully called the _Forest_, made the gnarled, dead woods back near the Youkai Academy seem like nothing more than a harmless public park after all. Tsukune was moved again and again by ominous moans from the dark way off the path the settled on, the eerie rustle of leaves and snapping of twigs, the tearing of tree bark, and the unshakeable feeling that something was always following them – always watching. Yet when asked, his elder guide had assured that nothing around them could do anything – so long as everyone stayed on the path. Even so, if Tsukune never left Master Garandou's side, there was no telling what was dumb enough to even try. The wanderer always seemed to carry this…_aura_ around him.

Tsukune and his two companions also shared some small but efficient conversations with each other, although as to be expected, they did have their silent intermissions. Garan was definitely the silent-type of a character, although the first impression he made did not make him out to seem so. But Tsukune did get a few of his questions out and most of them answered.

For instance, when he asked more about Paradise, Selzix had told him that there where in fact several different realms with the same name, and that the one that they situated in was the most hazardous out of all of them. Though none of them could really be called safe, he stated that this place was so dangerous because it was a swirling mixture of terrifying landmarks from other realms glued together – including some from the Human World.

Apparently the lovely forest that they where now striding across was originally a piece of something called the Forbidden Forest, a large dark forest serving as a barrier for a famous school for magic and wizardry. When Tsukune turned to Garan to ask if there were any witches that went there, he silently confirmed it.

'_Maybe Yukari-chan or Ruby-san knows about it.'_ He thought.

After brushing along through the stony trail towards a place definitely brighter than the area they were now leaving behind, Tsukune wiped his forehead with his hand.

"Whew! I'm beat. How long has it been?"

"'bout five hours' hike in Outworld time, Tsukune-kun." The Selzix answered, roosting calmly on Garan with his wings folded around himself.

"I know I might've already asked this, but why exactly a river?"

The older traveler peered with a sharp golden eye out from underneath his hood. For a moment he stopped his supernatural glide and Tsukune heard the sound of metal greaves clang abruptly against the soil of the earth.

Now on his feet, he turned to the boy and replied in his reverberating whisper, _"Tell me child, who is she?"_

Tsukune recoiled oddly at the question.

"Who?"

"_Thou jests no one but his own good name. That Moka girl."_

Tsukune smiled sheepishly at why his love interest was being thrown into the matter, not to mention sort of interrupting his own question, but after having been told so much, he may as well not discredit his companion's curiosity.

"She's this…girl that I know. The very first girl that I met when I came to Youkai Academy. She's…unique."

"'_Twas that she was unimpressed by thy less standardized ability as an ayashi? I watch that school well. Being as a ghoul thou shouldeth naught be welcome in the company of monsters that are bred knowing humanity. Yet as a ghoul, doth thou enfold such sensibility as amorousness?"_

"Uh, speaking with such a sophisticated tongue I have no idea what Garan-san is hinting at." He shrugged hopelessly.

The dark bat recognized his cue and sped up in front of him.

"The first thing he asks is 'Is she a girl that didn't come to recognize Tsukune as a mate because of Tsukune's lower than average ability in terms of speed and wit,'" Tsukune's colors were changing rapidly on hearing how his dilemma with Moka was being conveyed. "The second thing Garan-sama says besides being familiar with your school translates to 'Because Tsukune's a ghoul, wouldn't Tsukune be shunned as a monster even in the monster academy because other ayashi are for the most part more civilized in their nature,'"

"Oh, w-well I…"

"And the last part translates to 'Being a ghoul and lacking a fully intact conscience, does Tsukune still really feel such earthly bindings such as the emotion of love?'"

Garan saw that the boy was far too entangled in bafflement to respond using words, so he went along and added, _"Did thou ever imagine perhaps that there might be such a way as to make the very shadows of the green earth rise to make themselves known to the ones they long for but doth long naught for them in return? To gain strength and ability to compete for the interest of the ones they adore so?"_

"You're saying that the reason I wish to become stronger is to impress Moka-san? That's true for some of the case, but not entirely…" He put his hand on his bare chest over where his gaping scar was. "I want to…be able to…protect Moka-san."

After staring in his glistening eyes for a moment's reprieve, Garan concluded simply, _"Then get stronger. Find new strength. This shall help thee to do so."_

"What? The marathon?"

"_Nay…observe…witness… 'Tis just yonder this small hill. The River."_

The inky black sleeve with wrinkles of dead moss motioned over in a straight branch towards the direction leading out of the misty woods, guided by the beautiful colored lights of the day. Tsukune's eyes were entranced by their beauty, and he ambled on ahead towards it. Nearing the end, he hopped the tiny slope and his bare feet hit loose gravel. There was a great clearing of trees.

He let out a small 'whoa' at a great stream drifting calmly one direction and continuing down the other in a steady current. The water looked to be about ankle deep, because he could see the bigger rocks touching just below the surface. The multiple suns touching down made just the most enchanting thing an artist could possibly capture on a painting, with the colors of dawn and dusk sweeping along in reflection.

The others soon caught up with him and came up to his side to look on at the breathtaking natural wonder.

"It's so pretty…" Tsukune let the words leak out.

"_Aye. Indeed it is."_

"But listen, Tsukune-kun. The reason we're here is not to admire the scenery, chuu!"

He looked curiously at the two dark-dressers. "Then why? Why bring me here?"

"Well, this is the place where Master caught the Lochstress young for you and me. Tell me kid, when you ate such a tiny morsel – such a _tiny_ vessel of an organism, how did you feel?"

Tsukune thought back and remembered. "I felt great. I must've been in such miserable shape when I woke up, having not eaten anything for such a long time, but the second I swallowed that small fish, I felt empowered. My body felt like it could keep working forever."

"Well, that's because the larval forms of Lochstress have a special pheromone in their bodies that contains Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K, all in one chemical! And to top it all off, they provide a special stimulant that gives off a Youkai energy boost! Isn't that so amazing! No matter if you're living or dead, the organisms of this realm always serve a special use to you, chuu!"

"I see! Such amazing traits in the animals here!"

"_Also,"_ Garan added, _"The water that I hath used to revive thee in thy conditions derived exclusively from this very body of water, altered by mine powers to make thy blood work faster, so is to heal thy wounds hastier. It is, true enough, the same water that such treacherous yet miraculous creatures grow and live in."_

Tsukune's eyes fluttered with enlightenment. "I see. That must be the reason you brought me here. To teach me how to hunt my own meals without managing to harm myself."

Selzix was about to respond, but a tremendous rumble knocked him off of his balance in mid-flight. The entire river seemed to jump up in a big ripple, and a great rush of the water came from upstream. As they all watched, a terrible looking sea monster swam in vicious strokes around a group of trees, knocking all of them out and sending the logs washing down the river with it.

Tsukune's eyes dilated to olives, and he quickly turned and hauled ass to make way for the huge marine organism splashing its way to their location. Everyone backed up to a safe distance, and when they looked back, a young man was riding the top of the aqua-colored scaled beast. His grip was wrenched tightly around its throat, avoiding the sharp spines of its fins.

The shady elder near Tsukune gave no surprised reaction.

Tsukune himself watched in awe as, with the might of a titan, the bare-backed stranger rode the entire thing into the river bank. There was a humungous splash and the splitting of stones with its skull. However, the beast was not finished yet.

Rearing up on its hind legs, the giant made a furious lunge with its body and the person it was fighting threw his arms forward and stopped its entire body from gaining ground. Then, with a sharp strike, he knocked the whole thing back by its orange belly into the rocky wall behind the river.

Showing no emotion, no fatigue, the long-haired figure started towards it again, first ambling slow, like a zombie, but quickly accelerated through the water, then made a great lunge at it for the finisher.

The monster caught onto him with its two front fins, and with the help of its poisonous spines, it sliced into each an arm and a leg, and held him practically on a fork.

Tsukune started to run out to assist the young man, but a long sleeve draped in his path to stop his approach.

"Shouldn't we be helping him? That guy's in trouble! He'll be ripped apart if we don't do something!"

"_Wait. And watch."_

He grunted in response to the command, but did as he was told.

The lone figure hanging by a pike suddenly burst out with a great deal of aggression, breaking all of the spines holding him up off the monster. He quickly caught the shallow water ground and seemed to completely disregard the pain of the lances of Lochstress venom boring into his limbs and side. Red ink seeped down into the river, and the river brawl between the two continued.

Unknown to either, Selzix fluttered up beside the hood and muttered, "Have you ever seen one of them so strong…let alone so fast?? It's terrifying! There's just one of them, and he's dealing with a Lochstress juvenile all on his own!"

"_Aye…he is a strange one. Different from the others indeed."_

The man leapt up and grabbed the beast by its jaw, and several golden razor-sharp teeth quivered to snap him. Yet the human figure, which was easily ten times smaller, hoisted a jaw supporting a whole row of teeth one way, and using the other arm, the opposite way, and with the combined pressure asserted and a thunderous crack, the creatures jaw split asunder. Blood spewed forth, completely covering the young man in its thick crimson fluids, and the muscles and tissue of its mouth protruded wide out.

The marine beast continued to swing its massive paws and fins around in the hope of knocking the barbarian off, but alas, all it could do was gurgle on its own blood. The man held on. Then, with a finishing touch, he bent down to the throat of the fish-like head and took a great bite into it. Along with it came this sound, like biting into an juicy apple. The struggle of the great titan only made his teeth sink deeper, and in the end, its thrashing gradually died down…along with the rest of it.

Tsukune was appalled. There was absolutely no way any _human_ he knew could accomplish a feat quite like that. The thing looked like it could completely crush his opponent by sitting on him, yet it was he itself that lay motionless underneath its blood-soaked victor. The water of the stream now ran red of its blood and his.

As they continued to watch, the voracious man continued to eat away at the meat of a well-earned, well-deserved meal. Everyone could hear the vile tearing and shredding of heavy meats; the disgusting weeding sound of veins and arteries being pulled loose, the squishing of blood and organs becoming undone. The carnivorous being wasted no great time to pick out the delicacies of his gore feast. That was that.

"This,_ child, is the reason we cometh to the River."_ Garan explained.

"Huh? Just what do you expect me to do with _him?!_" He stammered.

"_Thou art a ghoul, yes? Then shouldeth thee be already acquainted with natural instinct? Thy prime lesson in strength begins nigh. In order to find food, sometimes 'tis necessary to seek out the prey of another of your kind… Yet in thy race, there be residents that reject the means of humanity indefinitely. They are outcasts, even to others in their own primitive race."_

His eyes widened with horror. "Y-you don't mean…this guy is…"

He looked back. The native had already made his way to the torso of the demon, ripping its way through the bowels and entrails like an animal himself. Tsukune could hear the small whimpers and moans as he ravenously dug into his prey in the middle of the river.

For a brief instance, the young man stopped and leered aimlessly back towards Tsukune, who froze with fear. For what he saw through the bloodshed half enveloping the stranger's otherwise handsome face was a pair of lifeless eyes with reddish coloration and a long black streak running down the side of his face. The mark of a beast, defined not by mere appearance, but by unrelenting savagery.

Only after Tsukune had gotten a good look at his face, the other human-like creature continued feeding on the reserves of the carcass in front of him.

The innocent student was so focused on the ongoing matter before his very eyes that he didn't immediately notice the draped cowl of ebony turned to face him, and somehow, he could imagine the face with a look of amusement underneath. _"Thy conjecture doth thee much justice, child."_ He whispered. _"I do very much take to only the grandest delectation in starting off all of mine lessons with a test. I findeth it to be the most…effective approach."_

Moving to face back at the scene in the center of the river, the crouched position of the human creature rose slowly up from its feeding spot to reveal a mindless, lingering hunched position.

Tsukune still had the twisted madness of the two burning eyes searing in his mind, even as his guide spoke.

"…_Thou shall combat a _stray ghoul._"_

**A/N: Hahh...I have worked exceptionally _hard_ on this chapter, so be nice to me!**


	4. The Blood Circle

**A/N: Hey everyone. Been a while, has it not?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 4: The Blood Circle**

Tsukune couldn't feel his pulse. No, it wasn't because he was 'supposedly' undead. It was because his heart stopped upon hearing the task to battle a vicious Paradise native from Hell that had just torn apart a water demon ten times his size, and well over ten times the ugly.

However, given the fact that his guide scared him more than the two other monsters put together, he was finally convinced that this was a must-do. It only came natural to Tsukune that ghouls weren't to feel such emotions such as fear, so if he wussed out now, then Garandou would most definitely (that is to say if not already) would discover his true nature. The nature that Tsukune had always loaded oppressively over his shoulders…as a human. Then _that's_ when he wouldn't be able to run away fast enough.

That term 'human' brought him misfortune even now. Damn his origin. He couldn't have been incarnated as a vampire or a werewolf or _something_ that was adept to fighting. Then again, for some apparent reason vampires and werewolves both seemed to be rare races despite their hearty S – Class leagues.

But even with Moka's empowering vampiric blood rolling through his veins, he couldn't help but wobble a bit in his movements with a touch of unease as he so slowly and unsteadily approached the base of the now reddish river. Again, being talked into doing this had not been easy.

At first Tsukune attempted the 'gentleman' approach with the inky-black entity, assuring that it would be impolite to steal a meal out from under another person, or rather, animal that had worked hard for it, and tried gently to convince him to leave him to his lunch, but the strange man countered it saying that it was not 'stealing', it was _'earning'_.

"Since ghouls have and will ultimately adapt to the nature of Savagery," Selzix recalled, "it's only natural that two males skirmish against each other to deem which is the dominant – the superior. Often, an object of achievement is placed between the two so that there is extra sport and motivation to make the difference vantage absolute. This, as you should know, includes food, chuu."

"The way things are…how could anyone call it 'natural'?" Tsukune wondered dizzily.

"_Truth to the Lord, how on earth can thou possess dignity worthy even to moveth thy bones if thou telleth me that thou hast never partaken in a Blood Circle before?"_

The boy blinked cluelessly. "Blood circle?"

Selzix, whom usually flapped his wings with such vigor in his little body, now kept anchored to his tall partner's torn shoulder, securing all the faith he had that his master would not let any harm come to him now that such a dangerous fight was soon to start.

"Hai. A Blood Circle." He spoke the name in such a way that Tsukune could wager that the small mammal held some grudge against it. "As the name implies, a gory match to the redeath between two of one of the most infamous ayashi classes ever were, the Ghoul. Just thinking about the concept perturbs me greatly, chuu."

Tsukune tried to feign his worriment through holding his pose steady by putting a finger to his chin. "Are there any rules?"

"Hells no! The only rule that you blood-thirsty barbarians commonly associate with is the 'kill in the most mentally-disturbing way imaginable' rule. Don't tell me you've never even thought about it, chuu!"

"_Surely, thou must have only recently departed?"_

Tsukune avoided him with his brown eyes, staring down at an invisible object. In a way, he _had_ sort of died…just not in the way that his companion was thinking. Getting rejected so coldly by the vampire that he adores had not been easy for him, and now, he was stranded in a completely different land, and he was too afraid yet to ask for a way to get back.

The only question he had to answer to himself was who it was for sure that he was most afraid of.

Garandou the Tragic?

…or Moka?

"…Hai," he finally and hesitantly responded. "In fact it seems like only _yesterday_."

"_Ha. Allow me to grace thee with such humble favor as to enlighten thee upon the subject before instinct calls for it in time. However, this is the only charitable thing I wish to do for thee, else what wilst thou learn?"_

Tsukune had a comical blush of shame sweep over before he blurted, "Look I'm not a newbie, I've fought before, I've just…never met another ghoul around here. For all that I know, the tradition might be different. Say, instead of going one-on-one, the whole mob is pitted against the challenger! I don't want that kind of attention!"

"_Well I am ecstatic to see that thou art familiar with the rules after all. If I were to tell thee that nothing here changes in contrast to that of thy homeland, I will only assume that that will be all."_

"Good luck Tsukune-kun!" Selzix called from the other side of the shrouded magician. "We'll be rooting for you, chuu!"

"Huh?? Wh-what?! No, wait! I-ah, uh…" Tsukune stammered his defense fruitlessly and unsteadily. His distress level was approaching critical mass, and he showed it as his ability to talk slowly withered away to broken stutters.

The hidden sage stared blankly at him and kept to himself. The bat did agree to do most of the talking. "Go on, go get him! Show us some of that ghoul proficiency from back home! Give him a few dabs of that fighting spirit, and this and that…" His voice had reduced itself to mumbles. "…n' stuff…"

'_Heheh…I just talked myself into it deeper.'_ He thought as he sweat-dropped. _'I really am hopeless.'_

Tsukune felt no safer than he would if he were on Death Row. They might as well have him dig his own grave before going out. But yeah, he saw himself, marching out there to the gap of the river, practically half-starved, half-naked, to challenge Big Brother to an ass-whooping over a dead demon-fish. Yeah, totally not the craziest part of his week.

For the first part of the approach, Tsukune had stalled for as long as Kami's Grace would nurture him, doing incredibly corny leg-stretches and warm-up routines at the safe distance away from the carnivorous carcass perching in the ankle-deep river. At that point, Selzix seemed so embarrassed to be part of the crowd with Tsukune that he had turned his roosting position the opposite way just to avoid watching him. Garandou didn't seem to care. He only looked on in somewhat of a trance.

"Don't kill the mood, boy, chuu…"

"Okay, okay. I was just trying to loosen up my muscles. We don't come back from things like this!"

"That body of yours no longer functions, there is no 'loosening up', GO." He spoke his feelings as somewhat of a harsh awakening.

So Tsukune, tail between legs, went.

Taking his first step into the flowing water as if almost checking for sharks, he made a (not so) steady amble across the current, feeling the surprising pleasantry that the water was actually incredibly warm, like a hot spring. Reaching down, he silently scooped up a few handfuls of the non-bloody water and splashed them in his face to refresh him and wake him up. He didn't care anymore if it looked suspicious to the creepy old guy behind him that a ghoul would be doing something like this. He was going to die soon anyways; might as well go out with the refreshing sensation of hot spring water.

However, his greatest regrets lay in the possibility that is becoming more and more likely, and that was that he would never see his family again. That he would never see his friends again. If he died at the hands of this human creature, he would never see _her_ again. He wasn't sure exactly how much he didn't want that to happen – he feared Moka as much as he liked her – but he did realize that if there was even a glimmer of hope for his future, it started here.

…And it can't _end_ here while it starts.

No…

He would survive.

If there was any way to survive the curses of this place, the curses of this Second Hell, he would find it. If defeating an already half-way dead monster was going to be where the tough path starts, then it's simply where it starts. No avoiding it.

But now, wading slowly through the more blood-tainted waters to get a closer look at his soon-to-be opponent, he instantly felt his spirited drives leave him again. Despite having looked very real while it crushed the Lochstress creature into the river and tore apart its very being, the danger now looked even more real up close.

Its appearances also have become more pronounced – more detailed, like the long lines of running blood that was now encrusted onto the skin of the young man's arms and exposed back. Other than the ugly, sooty dark brown and red coloring of spilt fluids, he could see the muscles, as well as long, pronounced scars running visibly down and around the man's pale body. Probably from experiences past living as a stray.

The undead's apparel consisted of a plain, faded brown pair of huntsman moccasin boots, and a matching pair of sturdy-looking clothed pants, with the pelt of some unknown creature clinging to his waist as a drape over them. He had long, unkept, raven black hair hanging down over his shoulders, although in spite of the exotic tone, it did look quite a bit wild and ruffled. No blame cast.

But the most noticeable features turned out to be the ones that disturbed Tsukune the most. Among his otherwise very well-built figure, nothing could draw the young boy's attention away from all the other features like the two wide gaping holes on the man's side, revealing a set of two or more ribs protruding wide out.

The world's ugliest compound fracture.

But that man, he was oblivious to any pain. Or perhaps he only made himself seem oblivious because he had to bear the wounds so frequently. Either way, Tsukune was not expecting an easy fight out of this guy.

To top of the terrible scourge wound, another familiar sight diverted his eyes. As he continued to watch the ugly wound, he noticed a long jagged black marking that flowed up directly past it, up to the shoulder as far as he could see past the thick, plentiful hair. But he already knew that he saw that exact same pattern run all the way up through its neck to the side of its face when it had turned to briefly glance at its surroundings.

Truly, the only thing this man could be was a ghoul. He looked far too disheveled to possibly be anything but. Still, it did manage to preserve most of its handsome features. You could almost see the beauty of him if not for the blood…and the scars on his back…and the protruding ribs…and the dead, lifeless eyes…and the fact that he was so primitively picking the animal in front of him clean of meat.

Drawing closer still, the gruesome details and ravenous sounds of muscle and tissue being torn apart became more and more pronounced. The closer he got, the more he didn't want to. Simple as that. He could still turn and sprint through to the opposite side of the river away from the others, but Kami only knows what he would hit next. Could be a ghost, could be a unicorn riding a bloody moonbeam. Every time he looked up at that fantastic sky, he was automatically reminded that anything that the imagination could hold could pop up anywhere at any given time, as well as all the things that the imagination couldn't.

Tsukune's mind was so frozen with fear and the inability to reason with himself that he didn't even realize how far he was from the self-moving carcass…that is until he found himself directly behind it.

The shock of how close it was rushed to him all at once, and he hoisted a startled breath that he just barely managed to suppress before he ended up startling the creature back to 'life'…which would have yet made himself very dead.

There the creature before him was, still apparently oblivious to the visitor right behind, remaining crouched down over the red and teal remains. From behind, Tsukune could hear the vibrant crunch of a rib slip loose, only guessing that the defiled spirit had taken it upon himself to pick it off into his mouth for testing the edibility.

The coarse croaks and yaks quickly ensuing made the boy behind turn ghost-pale with sweat drops all over. Honestly, it had the same effect as having his legs lock up completely straight in the middle of a furnace turned up to the max. The possible fight hadn't even started yet, and already, he felt he was on the verge of collapsing.

He quickly slapped himself awake, and the pain gave him a quick shot of adrenaline. Determined not to waste, he used the temporary courage to try and see if he could get the attention of the stray.

"E-excuse me…" His voice came out as a squeak, so he slapped himself again for extra tone. "Ahem…please, excuse me sir." The body in front of him didn't respond in anything contrary to what it was already doing. Using only its hands now, it blindly poked and picked at the inside of the ribs. The Lochstress juvenile ayashi was now deformed almost to the point of being unclear of what it once was.

Tsukune dared himself to reach out to the slightly older-looking male. He begrudged at the ridiculous action, but slowly followed up to it. His hand moved on its own, closer and closer to the stranger's bare shoulder, nearly getting up to the point of contact.

"Wh-what is that baka doing?!" Selzix screeched in an outraged tone. "Idiot, dur…his back is totally exposed! Attack while you still have the element of surprise with you! Don't go getting polite like that, or you'll lose an arm, chuu!!"

Tsukune's jaw could have quite literally dropped at the hypocritical glass bat shouting out to him right from the riverbank. Garandou slapped a slender skeletal hand over his concealed hood right about at where his forehead would be. The ghoul still didn't break away from its routine, and kept salvaging.

"Ah! What is the point in surprising anyway if you point me out like that?!" But looking back down, he was somehow disappointed that the undead beast hadn't granted him the least bit of acknowledgement. Just kept right on eating. "And you! I know you know I'm here! At least pay attention to me so I feel _worth_ something if I get torn apart! This! Is! Not…!! _Honorable!!_"

While he was gasping for air from his own mental breakdown, he got a stunning reaction as the ghoul snapped its head around to gaze directly through him with that same emotionless demeanor, and Tsukune grunted at the sight of rib sticking out of its mouth. Everything washed to a dead silence. Its bloody red pupils of eyes were now devoid and gone, leaving nothing but two bottomless, glass holes leering up at him covered underneath a kind of glaze. As the boy watched him in a petrified state, the tiny bone shard wedged in between his two rows of somehow perfectly straight and white teeth suddenly snapped down in two under the pressure of incredibly strong jaws. This the ghoul did, without changing glances, or even blinking. And _this_ the ghoul did, all in the matter of three and a half seconds.

With nothing more said or done, it silently turned back to continue its business.

Following Garandou's example, the boy slapped his own forehead hard with his hand. With that, he realized just exactly how much in this one event that he ended up slapping himself today.

But then he took a deep breath to calm himself down, not knowing if he was more scared than he was outraged. Was he not important enough to get even such a hungry soul's attention? Or moreover, perhaps he seemed that he wouldn't make a meal big enough to be worth the trouble? In any case, there would be no more prolonging. Time to do this.

Still, being as Tsukune always was…

"Okay…well…by the way…I'm gonna have to fight you. I don't want to have to do something like this, but I'm kind of tied against my will here, please forgive this." There was no way to see if the voracious feeder was listening. Tsukune nervously turned to face completely away from his opponent. It would be almost back-to-back if not for the fact that he was standing up straight while the zombie was still crouched over like some primal Neanderthal position. Closing his eyes unsurely, he shouted out to the air in front of him, "okay! So…I'm going to…count to three!"

"Oh my god…" Selzix muttered at the pathetic rendering. This was just getting sad.

"_Mmmm…well…'tis an…_interesting_ first move."_ Garandou stated with lack of a better tone. There, to the usually reclusive sage, was just no better way to put it.

"He's gonna get pwned, chuu."

"…"

Tsukune mumbled something to himself before proceeding with the first count. "…not going to eat you…he's not going to eat you……'kay, not going to – okay, ONE!" He shouted to the sky while facing away.

The creature didn't bother to make any distinction in the environment.

"…Two!"

Garandou was clasping his bony hands together in somewhat of an excited, apprehensive pose. Selzix, who wasn't as much looking forward to a Blood Circle brawl, regardless of if it was an innocent boy going in or no, shielded his eyes timidly with his lengthy wings, once again found clinging to his master's shoulder. He would look as soon as he heard the distinct spatter of gore.

"…Two and a half! …Two and two-thirds! …T-two and ninety-eight point nine percent!"

He cringed under his closed eyes. Here goes everything.

"…THREE!!"

Letting nothing but the adrenaline charges build up in his body and the strong gust of wind and spray of hot water viciously shoot up with his leg to guide it, he threw everything he had into a single first kick.

With a speed that must have been thrown into the nothing short of the swiftest of corpses, the stray had spun away from its disheveled meal, and Tsukune felt his kick come to a complete halt in the bat of an eyelid. Faster than Tsukune's brain could intake, the shirtless human creature seized him by the ankle, and there was a gust of wind swirling around and away to show the arrest of extremely oppressive motion.

Tsukune instantly felt the tightening grip weigh down on his bone, and he looked down horrifically at the once-living force grinning violently back. The dead irises encased in its cold, otherwise empty eyes were now affixed upon him and his severely lacking fortitude. With his guard wide open, the creature wrenched his other hand just above the other tightly around the poor boy's lower leg, and with a might matched by only the creation of an S-Class monster, the vampire, the corpse heaved Tsukune (not so) gently out of the warm ankle-deep water and flung him in a wide arc above itself before aggressively slamming him back down with one ferocious downward arm into the moving stream's shallow bottom consisting of nothing but raw stone. There was a gargantuan shockwave of hot water that sprung out in retribution.

While the ghoul stood off to the side, letting the water splash harmlessly over him, it hung its head limply in a drab stationary lingering, waiting to see if Tsukune wanted more.

Which he really didn't.

Washing back onto the riverbank leaving a trail of red murk in the waters to blend with the older-spilt set, he breathed heavily from having a great wind knocked loose of him. As if a maul once a week wasn't enough, wouldn't want to make his life _that_ easy, would he? With trembling fingers, he gently touched his forehead and quickly moved his hand away with as much as a grunt in pain. There was a small gash over it, and he wiped underneath it a few times to keep from having fresh blood flowing into his eyes.

He slowly dragged himself up to his knees to get a better view of the pretty lightshow in front of him consisting of Roman Candles, Jumping Jacks, tiny Barrage Cannons, and…oh, wait. It's only the delirium of his newly formed concussion.

He looked over and spotted his two dark spectators watching him patiently, along with an additional two. A translucent, but undeniably identical copy was situated right next to them. He could see the long drifting cape and the very same bat, now staring at him the same as the others with everything about them exactly spot-on.

Looking over a bit confused at the turn of the events, Tsukune said in wonder, "Garan-sempai." His voice was still groggy from the collision face-against-floor. "You never told me that you…had a twin brother."

There was a small gap of silence between them before the silent elder reluctantly replied, _"…Twin brother…?"_

Only after the image began to exchange sides with ghostly movements around the slightly confused creature did Tsukune come to light with the harsh reality.

"AH, not good, I'm seeing DOUBLE!!!!!" He shot to life with panic, but not quick enough to avoid the incredibly oppressive bare arms that grabbed him from behind by his shoulders and tossed him again for a second flight. However this time, rather than getting smashed flat into the rocky surface like before, he sped bouncing over the surface of the vast stream like a human skipping stone.

The air adventure was soon brought to a standstill when he smashed back-first into a tall healthy tree, making it splinter near the bottom. He threw open his mouth at the ever so familiar situation of having his respiration abruptly cut, along with the older, but still ever so familiar feeling of listening to his ribs go.

Unable to talk with his mouth still gaping for air, he still tried to think optimistically. After all, things could have always ended up worse.

'…_Well…at least the tree broke my voyage…'_ The entire structure of the trunk that he was still attached to moaned and creaked rambunctiously, and not much later, the entire tree collapsed thunderously to the ground with Tsukune still on top. He was tossed off by the cruel force of the impact, back into the pebbled embankment. With his head partially submerged under heated water, he went ahead and finished his thoughts. _'You have GOT to be kidding me.'_

His ears were going off like malfunctioning speakers, and the ensuing headache sucked. But half out of mind, he struggled to hoist his face up so at least he wasn't seeing everything from an awkward perspective. When he struggled to his knees, his sight blurred clear enough to see a distant figure lurching slowly towards him unrushed, but with undeniable killing intent.

At least it was slow enough for Tsukune to get the time to think how in the hell he could still move. He was getting his ass handed to him, but wouldn't a person normally be out of it if they were smashed against a stone ground and hurled into a tree? It made no sense.

But thanking his luck, he was more than willing to pardon the things that could've happened to him, which were by the way, grueling for him to even mentally ingest.

Trembling unsteadily with fatigue and injury, he tried his best to stave the distance between him and the monster, but it was drastically closing in for them. The other man's eyes looked empty for a moment in that savored moment away, but if Tsukune so much as peered at his pupils when he was close enough, the milky centers of the creature's corneas sparked with demands of insatiable hunger. Apparently it had known from the start that he was not one of its own kin.

And _apparently_ it had been a while since it had seen a real live human.

Tsukune's own anguish had him almost mentally torn apart. 'I shouldn't be here!' he wanted to scream. Over and over again. Until his lungs bled out. Why couldn't he have just stayed back at the Academy and keep clear from the vampire he loves so dearly but fears so absolutely? It would have been much easier than having to survive in this extraterrestrial cage! It would be better than fighting this walking scourge. Wouldn't it? But staking it out here was what had to be done. If he would reappear outside of this world, he would reappear powerful enough to turn the Youkai Academy upside down with his bare hands. Or he shouldn't bother coming back at all. And it was looking like the latter deal.

Tsukune looked at the undead beast, and almost felt complete empathy at its complete loss of humanity. Even as it continued staggering towards him, reaching out for him, he could empathize with its loss.

Was this his own fate? Was this an avatar of foredooming?

Was it his destiny to end up looking like this savage animal? _His_ destiny to end up with nothing but a broken chain on his holy limiter and a severed conscience? An example of what happens when you love too much and want to protect too much?

Because if anything, it was already turning out to be a lesson well learned.

"I don't want to fight you." He concluded. "But it's your future…or mine." The zombie didn't slow in its stead one bit. "…and yours is pretty far gone."

It was right up in his face. With a low groan creaking through ruined vocal cords, its eyes started to milk with complete white as it slowly cracked open its mouth.

Tsukune got into a defensive fighting pose. "I'm sorry."

It lunged at him.

* * *

Dusk was breaking heavy through the sill of Moka's bedroom window. The dorm areas were already filling up with other girls as well as the crowd discussion. What they did today, who's dating who, the everyday news. Which to Moka, was never all that new.

She closed the door behind her and set her school bag on the desk near the window, and subsequently kicked off her shoes. Keeping her long stockings on, she let herself flop onto the cushiony surface of her bed. She was still inside her school uniform, exhausted from sweeping practically every square mile of the woods twice. Though occasionally, Kurumu herself would appear as a lookout from the skies above, drifting on the two wings that the ominous counterpart of Moka would have snapped off if Tsukune hadn't intervened.

And then there was that other reason to be exhausted poking around in the background: the return of Loving Wonderful Sister. A sister that had almost made her one with the pavement if Kurumu and Mizore weren't there to make the jump on her. And thus the path to getting to Tsukune was made even more complex.

But no matter how it was put, Moka wasn't alone in her search of desperation. That was because it had become their search of desperation too. Tsukune was gone, and no matter how distant it would seem, none of the girls were having it.

She shuffled her body into a comfortable position so that her head was on her pillow. With her hands to her chest, she laid down staring at her ceiling.

'_Tsukune.'_ She thought wondrously. _'Where are you? What are you doing right now…?'_

* * *

"Ah! Garan-sempai! Heeeelllp meeeee, he's gonna eat meeee."

"I'm tellin' ya, Master. This wing is slightly longer than this wing. See the difference now?"

"…"

"…I cannot BELIEVE you twooooo!!"

* * *

Her thoughts were brought to cease when she heard her stomach rumble. As she put a gentle hand over it to settle it down, she instantly realized the reason. And she felt horrible for doing so.

'_Ah. Tsukune's tasty, wonderful blood. It's been a while, hasn't it…?'_ She shook her thoughts abruptly as she shook her head. _'No. This isn't the time to think about that. Tsukune is not the source of my vitality. I've lived years before I tasted his blood…'_ Her limelit pupils dilated in startle as she drew a tiny gasp. Then they snapped shut in pain. _'Ooh…but it's so…good…'_

She rolled onto her side and stared silently, mournfully at the wall inches in front of her. _'I know there's a reason I want him back. I know that it can't be about his blood.'_

But for a second, she doubted herself. She felt like a truly horrible person. On one side of the rosary, she latched onto him, draining him as her nature commanded, and on the other side, swats him off of her like a fly, thanks to the ego that her nature also commanded.

She blushed at remembrance of the hospitality Tsukune always showed her. Showed everyone.

He was always there to tell her it was alright. Before the event leading to his disappearance, he had always gotten back up after taking a beating from Inner Moka, be it verbal or physical, and he had always held this…_look_ in his stunning brown eyes that told Moka – both Mokas' – that he'd forget all about it tomorrow. He always knew when she was feeling down about something, or when she got ill, and he risked his own health to tell Moka that it was okay to suck his blood. He always thought of her. Her anemia placed before his.

That was the Tsukune that she always remembered.

Tears began welling up in her eyes as she pictured his smiling face in her mind slowly fading away. After about a half hour of reminiscence, she realized that all she was truly doing was mourning for something that wouldn't heal itself until she did something.

She sat straight up on her bed, crossing her legs in the middle of it, and rested her arms against it. "This is meaningless, isn't it?" She questioned herself. "Nothing good will come out of weeping over something that everyone else is still out working for. I'm slacking off."

She slowly helped herself off of the bed and headed back for her shoes. She still had some left in her to go out and search a bit more. In terms of caring for Tsukune, she wasn't about to prove herself the weakest link to any of the others. And she _did_ in fact want to find him first.

She had her footwear back on, and she ambled for the doorway, shoes clicking softly against the neat, clean floor. She held her arm out for the knob, but she was nearly blasted back into her bed with fright with the enormous slam following the door swinging open all by itself. You could see the dents in the wall where it hit.

"Guess what, Moka-saaan!!"

"Aaaiiieee!" She squealed still in retaliation to the unwelcome intrusion.

In the doorway, Yukari stood with her fists clenched in an excited pose. She definitely found SOMETHING she liked.

"Hwah~ wha…what is it…" The vampire asked with semi-hyperventilation. After being stranded without feeding for so long, the last thing she needed was to be snuck up on.

Now with her hand graciously on her hip, the young witch smiled with renewed enthusiasm. "I went and spoke to Ruby-san! Then the two of us went to the Board Chairman! I told him what happened and what you did!"

Moka's jaw dropped with heavy disbelief. "You WHAT? Yukari-chan!"

"Yeah, it's awesome isn't it?? Aren't I awesome??"

She would have gone into a weird little happy witch dance if Moka hadn't swooped in on her and grabbed both flaps of her cheeks with utmost frustration. Tears were comically shooting from her eyes as she stretched them disproportionately. "I don't believe you! After everything, this still traces back to YOUR aphrodisiac! It's you who started all this so why are you trying to pin it on meeeeeeeeeee!"

"M-Moka-shwran…wr-wrait…" she begged through a slur of words as she had her eyes closed with the pain. "Wr-wret me exshplain…!"

The agitated vampire didn't cease to listen to reason. "My sister came! She arrived a few days ago! That crazy girl wants my bones powdered in an ashtray! You think I didn't have enough to worry about? Between Kurumu-chan saying such horrible things to me and Yukari-chan going off and ranting, and, and…!"

The younger girl snapped loose for a moment and tried to fend off the outraged blood-sucker. "I have more to tell you, but I can't give you my most explicating details if you're gonna try to kill meee! Pretty please calm down!"

"Calm?! I was doing just fine until you…!"

"Found you AGAIN, big sister!!"

"NYAAAAAA?!" She drew back from the doorway at the recognition of the confident, carefree voice chiming at the door just in front of her. "K-Kokoa-chan!"

The pig-tailed girl had her bat at her side as usual. Glancing around her room, her exploring eyes soon dimmed to lack of interest when they hit her sister again. "Save it. Don't wanna hear it. Right now all that matters is getting your damn boyfriend back so I can see Onee-sama." She walked in with her arms crossed in a stern profile up to her older sister and leaned in at her for emphasis to what she was going to say next. "…My _real_ Onee-sama."

"Ahh! Ts-Tsukune isn't my…!"

But her shorter sibling had already turned away and started walking towards the hall. "Like I could give a rat's ass less what he is. Let's just find him already." She partially growled, partially moaned her agitation.

The older vampire sighed. There was hardly a way to explain the entire situation to this little tycoon. It was luck holding together in the first place that kept her sister from killing her by filling it in her head that the only way to see the mad side of herself that her sister adored so childishly was to bring back the only person she knew who was always available to remove her limiter.

Did that mean that Kokoa had to like her? Psh. No. And she very well knew that on her own.

Nevertheless, go with what the going gives you when the going gets tough. And what Moka had was time. Make the best of it.

As she watched her sister leave and disappear into the dormitory hallway, Moka turned solemnly, earnestly toward the young witch, who was rekindled with new confidence. "Alright! Thanks to Kokoa-chan for giving me that opening and possibly saving my life! I was trying to tell you that there is another way to find Tsukune! A brand-new way!"

"Yukari-chan," she was desperate to know one simple thing. "What's the meaning of this…?"

The witch tried her best to act professional, but simply couldn't. "Oooo~ you make me all tingly when you're like that, Moka-saaaan~!" She cried with overjoy. "Board Chairman found a way! He is so COOOOOOL~~! Look it'd be better if I just explained it along the way to his office. Desu~, Stalker-girl, and Ruby-san are already waiting with him!"

"I-is that so?" She seemed to hesitate for a moment. Finding Tsukune…could it really be true?

Yukari cracked an expecting smile, already having plotted the vampire's next move.

And sure enough, after about a half minute's pause, Moka, stimulated with overflowing eagerness, made a _very_ sudden full storm dash for the Chairman's office, blazing fire in her wake.

Yukari, who was well accustomed to the routine, simply latched onto her back as she passed, dangling with a single arm, while she let the older girl practically drive her to the destination. Moka never seemed to notice. And Yukari didn't expect her to.

But it would take them a bit longer to find out…that they were just too late.

* * *

One sound punch.

Another one.

Two more in return.

Three more in retribution to the two.

Tsukune was knocked off of his feet and splashed noisily into the ankle deep water. There were blotches of red clouding all around him.

He put his hand to his now bleeding face, feeling the gash on his lip.

"He's…really good…" Tsukune sputtered a few drops of his physical essence into the stream as it flowed by him. "_You're_ really good…"

He was looking up at the towering figure lurching towards him with his neck hung to the side as if there were no spinal column to support it upright. The body swayed back and forth in random, unprovoked, fluid movements while the wide milky eyes burned hot into Tsukune's.

It stood still for a moment, as if anticipating the injured kid to act.

Tsukune scrambled back a bit for a brief breather in the water, and looked around. There were a few pebble-sized rocks in the water to keep the thing at bay, but for what? Procrastination of the inevitable? There had to be something he could use. Some sort of weapon.

His eyes continued wandering the flow, and in looking at the water now a gory murk of thicker red fluids, he swallowed hard and begrudged at the most sane strategy available.

The ghoul made a staggering reach for him, but he thought fast and rolled away from it. Then drawing his breath with the last ounce of stamina he had, he dove into the water mixed with organic insides' juice.

'_This is soooo gross.'_

The splash. Red droplets sprayed everywhere. Some splattered onto the carcass's face, and the jaw dropped in a riled nature at the act. The entire body twitched about with more unprovoked movement, and it slowly ambled up to where Tsukune inevitably landed. The ripples still outlined with distinctly different shades of scarlet.

With a sudden lunge, as if the ripple ring were his most hated enemy, the creature tackled the spot, and an even bigger splash was the result. It made long punches and grips and claws at the surface, each one creating their personalized splashes, until slowly, like a dying engine, the splashes elongated; the ripples subsided.

The bloodied human creature was staring on and around itself like a caged animal, wandering the area relentlessly for its new pray. Its long black hair flopped about as the limp strands of it concealed the better parts of his face.

"Wow. That's really good thinking for a ghoul." Selzix proclaimed. "The ghoul's have a mixed sense of observational abilities. Some better than others. While ghouls cannot react to sight or tactility, their constructed sense of smell and hearing does them wonders. If scar-chested ghoul remains hidden like that, he'll blot out his opponent's chance of spotting him through the strong fragrance of the blood in that water."

"_Impressive. But Tsukune is eluded by one thing."_ Almost on cue, the tiniest gurgle of a bubble breaking the surface of the current, even in spite of the roar of the rapids, caused the ghoul to snap its drowsy face at that destined spot. The shaded enigma finished his words. _"…He must not make noise."_

It was a lesson learned too late.

Creaking its mouth open in a wide arc, as if no longer limited by jawbone length, the undead abomination shot out in a half-sprint half-crawl for the spot where Tsukune was undoubtedly hiding. With a flash movement, it tore out a piece of itself, and with the sharp pike in hand, it sent it spearing through the water surface and penetrated something solid.

Blood gurgled up from all around the shaft of the bone stake. Something living was wriggling and writhing down underneath it. Like a worm on a fish hook.

Garandou and Selzix fell into complete silence as they watched the ruthless dead thug twist and wedge it even deeper still with both hands now wrenched tightly around the thin shaft.

It took a long matter of minutes as they continued watching the movements beneath the spear point come to a cease. The blood ran down the embankment and washed against the soil and rocks as it passed.

"Oh. So the one eating was the stronger of the two after all… I suppose we always had a hunch this was coming. But for a ghoul to be able to use a weapon like that…from its own body no less…" The bat turned its tiny head to look at his master before turning back to face the gory mess the stray ghoul had made. "A lot of weird things have been happening today…haven't they, Garan no Danna?"

The hood was unreadable, as it had always been. It just continued facing the tragic scene.

Out of nowhere: _"Tsukune is not finished."_

"Ne?"

They both watched the hunter reach down through the water and pull up the body of what he had just harpooned. Still holding it up by the long sharp bone, it narrowed its glazed eyes at the sight of a limp creature identically resembling the one Tsukune was eating earlier that day. The blood continued dripping into the water below.

"Oi."

The neck of the unsuspecting ghost snapped sickly to the boy right behind him.

"I wasn't hiding there."

With a quick motion, he carved his fist into the thing's exposed ribs, making the whole body curl up in surprise. With a quick second coming, he used his second fist, the one with his holy locket no less, and smashed into the side of the wild ghoul's jaw. With a half-effort grunt, the whole body crashed down into the water. The current hid the still motionless vessel from sight.

"Oh, um…" the bat was not too sure how to take the surprising turn of the events. "Good…going?"

"His punches were really something."

"What happened out there?"

The tattered cloak was as a statue while he continued to survey the scenes.

Tsukune looked around his surroundings one last time, watching the water continue to file down the river, and the suns in the starry sky beginning to retire from sight. With nothing contrary to what he had seen before, he turned back to face the two and jinxed his luck saying, "I think I got him."

A pale hand shot out of the water from between his legs and grabbed a tight hold of Tsukune's ankle. He didn't even have time to express his startle before the overpowering force quickly overcame him and threw him under the water.

"Look at that! He just imitated the same tactic that Tsukune-kun just used!" The glassy black bat exclaimed.

"_It can process actions. That corpse was just waiting for the child to teach it something new."_

"Have you ever heard of a ghoul even _near_ capable of doing something that serious?!"

The strange man thought for a long moment, and responded truthfully.

"…_Nay."_

Tsukune kicked it off of him and drew back away for another breather. _'So it can use weapons. Wonderful.'_

The ghoul bounced back quickly against him. On the verge of closing in, it tore out an additional spike out of its thigh. Tsukune jumped back.

"Those aren't his bones! They're the spines of that bigger guy from the beginning! He was hiding them from me! Craaaap!"

"_Unimaginable. So the stray was hiding the remnants of the juvenile within its own wounds. 'Tis the perfect surprise."_

"Looks like it's been munching on a few military brains. It's not just using weapons – it's concealing them from Tsukune-kun so he can't see until he's up close. It's the perfect ambushing tactic. It's a freakin' marine."

"_The second that boy leaves himself open…"_

"It's over, chuu."

The zombie carried the perfectly shaped broken off spines coursing with potent venom towards his target. Each slender bone was over three feet in length. Tsukune saw what was coming and stepped back with his hands in the air. "Easy now. Let's just take this easy." The thing was hunched over, brandishing its new objects. "Let's be gentlemen…and…" He threw his hand into the water, pulled up a big stone, and lobbed it blindly at it in the blink of an eye. "…FIGHT FAIRLY!"

The impact of the rock stunned it, and Tsukune rushed in to take out the real viable threat. He kicked the first pike out of its hand and rushed for the other, but the undead recovered faster than anticipated, and grabbed for Tsukune. Both struggling for control of the weapon, they both tried their best to keep the dangerous tip pointed at distinct opposite directions from themselves.

Eventually the hilt slipped loose from both of their hands, and it stuck out into the river like a thin pole. The ghoul recoiled with a backhand to Tsukune, and he fell back into the muck.

Before he could get back up, the corpse came again, and this time, it wasn't planning on letting go. Pressing its weight down on Tsukune for maximum restriction of movements, it grabbed for his head and smashed him down against the ground.

The poor boy choked on warm water, and before he knew what was happening, he was pulled back out of the water and suspended up high by the ghoul's arms around his throat, bloodied. Beaten.

"Ooooh. …Is he down for the count?" Selzix wondered with interest.

The black magician gave no sign that he would respond.

Tsukune was on the verge of choking. Whether it be from water, blood, a mixture of the two, or an increasingly crushed windpipe, it was doing it for him. Dangling with mud and scratches all over his chest and face, some more serious than others, the vision of the other long-haired boy and his empty, dead eyes was failing him.

But before it could falter any further, he caught quick glimpse of that holy locket. Dangling on his right hand. It was shining like a row of gemstones between him and death's advocate. Now Tsukune was about to do the last thing that his free will commanded him not to. There were no second thoughts.

His movement wobbled. His shaking hand started towards the beads of silver clinging to his wrist.

The bat instantly caught this, and fluttering high over ahead, he asked with stress "Ne! Tsukune-kun! Whaddaya doing??!!"

The cloth-bound recluse continued watching.

The boy wearily snapped his head for as far as the death grasp on his neck would allow him. "I…uck…" He choked. "…have a plan…"

"I don't believe what you're saying! You're about to be snuffed out, boy! At least be a man and accept it! There's always a stronger ghoul. That's as nature plans! Accept it, chuu!!"

Tsukune cracked a smile underneath the blood coming down his chin. "I'm not…" He winced. "Saying it's a _good_ plan…I'm not…even saying it'll…work…" He finally grabbed a hold of what he was after and let his arm hang off of it. "But I'm all out of ideas. This is the end of my rope. I won't…stand to be wiped out by this empty husk."

"It's just one curse as followed by another in the end."

That only caused Tsukune's weakening expression to smile a bit more. "Don't worry about that… I'm still…cursing the luck of having ever met you two…in the first place…"

The two black figures stood away from him, eying them with emotions that they kept to themselves.

After a moment more of watching him in his struggle, Garan grinned maliciously. _"Be that so…?"_

"If my dying plan…doesn't fall through…if I'm killed either by what I do or by what the ghoul does…my deepest regret," he tightened his fingers around the beaded limiter, "was that I couldn't be with the people that mattered most." Five black figures in the definite outlined shapes of the girls he befriended through that school flashed through the back of his mind.

His slowly beating heart gave a sudden jump of adrenaline, and he tugged with all the strength that he could at the artifact. Static wrapped around his body at the struggle, and that's what it felt like. Pulling the limiter loose was like pulling a tooth loose. It hurt, but it had to be done.

Suddenly, distinctively, it snapped loose, and the silver-lined fragments flew in slow motion.

As Tsukune became sleepier, his eyelids were growing heavy. His eyes slowly closed before the ghoul that still held him suspended. Unlatching its jaws to bite into the boy's neck, the zombie drew nearer to him. Its horrid face dimmed out of his sight.

His eyes closed completely shut.

'_Moka-san…'_

A great explosion of scarlet and lightning erupted in the valley, blowing the carcass far out of sight. Where Tsukune was once being subdued, now a strobe light times a hundred was flickering furiously. The whir of angry electricity the color of Moka's vampire aura far outdid the subtle sound of the water current.

The two creatures that Tsukune had met just before were staring wondrously at the brilliant display of raw malice before them. The water was distinctively kicked up around where the boy tore off the only thing that kept his humanity together. Not a drop entered the distortion.

Unlike Selzix however, the strange magician known as Garandou simply smiled beneath his cowl and murmured these words.

"_And the first ghoul…is always the most difficult to snuff out."_

A shadow of purest black took a step outside of the circle of twisted energy. The lightning around him did not fall quietly. It clung to what was coming out, as if it were the only thing that gave it life.

Two white, unreadable dots peered out from the white and scarlet light at the two others. The remnants of the locket fell from the unidentifiable figure's right hand…

…And splashed solemnly into the murky depths below.

The protective ward around Tsukune's afflicted mind, body, and soul…was gone.

But the only thing that the mysterious man the new Tsukune was now peering at did was deepen his smile.

"_I was wondering…when it would happen."_


	5. A Deal is a Deal

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 5: "A Deal is a Deal"**

A shadow set foot out of the torrent.

Grin set and hidden, the older onlooker stood firm in a cold feeling of accomplishment at the creature he had brought to the surface. His trusted pet, Selzix, was neatly perched at his shoulder.

The new Tsukune ambled out with the spray of water vapor clouding around him, no doubt a raw effect of his cataclysmic rebirth. Yet with any weakness he might have, like in his ghoulification, he was unharmed by the water. Now wading through the waves, his eyes were two specks of white in a silhouette, and they turned to spot something under the water near. He slowly reached in, and took out a fractured metal that could only be what was left of his blessed locket. On the familiar sight of its minuscule details, he seemed to be presented a state of calm, and the scarlet electricity around him slowly suppressed, the mad buzzing of his new aura with it.

Without much thought (if any at all), he continued his advance to the embankment to meet up with the two creatures that had brought him to this area to begin with. There he stopped. And stared. The mindless stare that had once frozen a group of monster girls in their tracks…as a ghoul.

A small blast of blue fog emanated out of Garandou's hood, the breeze revealed only enough to see the clear bottom of his face – or what was left of one. A long, horrifying row of teeth spread possibly from ear-to-ear, and the two shining golden orbs that made up his eyes hidden in shade of his veil. Just like the Board Chairman. At least from where anyone could see, the person was semi-decomposed of flesh; a true husk of a man, bound and mummified in a tall, hollow vessel.

Tsukune stepped out in front of him, one foot still in the river. His features were uncovered. For the most part, he looked completely normal. But his skin had become exceptionally pale, and the black jagged markings were sprawled infectiously from the fang holes in his neck up to the bottom corner of his face, the gnarled branches stretching as if in reach for his eyes.

His irises were depleted of their natural brown into a dull, faded crimson.

He had become a ghoul once more.

From out of his crouched pose he stood up tall. For a scavenger of graves, he actually looked quite ardent in form; a young lord with unspoken familiarity with death. An affinity for taking lives, as heard him by his female admirers when last he transformed: _"Kill…kill…" _ His voice had haunted each witness of that incident for many nights, and now it tragically seemed that many more would follow.

But Garandou and Selzix showed no signs of fear around the reanimate body, and as the tall creature glided closer to Tsukune, he stuck out a skeletal hand from his impressively dark sleeve and wrapped his appendages carefully around the ghoul's jaw, and only then, firmly forced his head to turn a side, where he would thoroughly examine his face.

Shockingly, Tsukune did nothing about it. He showed no signs of aggression; didn't attack, didn't try to bite, didn't make a single further move on his own. It was almost as if something as mindless as a ghoul sensed inferiority to this man.

Garan's eyes gleamed coldly out of the hood on sign of the two burrowed holes rooted in the boy's jugular. Instinctively he recognized the mark, and withdrew his search with one word looming under his breath.

"_Vampire."_

In his whisper was hatred, but it was no matter. Vampires and ghouls weren't the same things after all. One was merely the catalyst for the other. Slowly, the wraith began to slip the pieces of the puzzle together in his mysterious mind, while Tsukune blankly surveyed his surroundings.

Of course Garandou wasn't stupid. He knew that Tsukune wasn't a ghoul to begin with, and almost completely doubted that he had ever been. Not long after he had decided this, as Tsukune's whimsical manners and caution for his own safety caught the cloak's eye, his true origin had long since been compromised. A human.

Though the kind of creature that Tragedy was would naturally feel just about as much animosity towards any human as he would a vampire, he was very different from his rare kind, and decided to take the wayward boy in. Perhaps it was that interesting little locket that he had with him, none could really say why. If he had sensed anything threatening towards himself, Garandou would have silenced it on the spot. But it had been a while since Paradise had had a pure human, and intrigue conquered suspicion.

But now Tsukune was just another one of them. Severed completely off of his former life, surely the knot of some vampire's twisted sense of humor. But as if Garan had any way to go about avenging this poor soul, with his feet sown completely to the soil of this wretched world. Even if Tsukune had a mind by now, the ominous lord's interest in him was dead-ended, and he no longer had any fundamental reason to know him.

"'_A shell of a man is a stain on the earth, and the stain on the earth turns a scourge.'"_ Selzix flew off of his shoulder and flapped away swiftly as Garandou continued his tragic nursery rhyme, a scary foreshadowing on what was about to unfold for Tsukune. The dark master's draped arm stretched out at him, and black light began to crackle into a sizeable distortion that he effortlessly held. The ghoul cocked his head to the side as the miniature black hole in front of Garan enveloped more space. _"'A scourge of the earth is an omen ill mirth, and 'ere the contretemps merge.' …Woe of greatest despondency that should I have to do this to you, Tsukune. The dead in this land walketh with blind retribution enough. We need no more grieving souls or grieving bodies with none to companion them."_

The anomaly was massive – big enough to easily swallow two of the lochstress juveniles like the one that the other ghoul had previously disemboweled. The inverted vortex reflected murkily in Tsukune's new pair of eyes, and his mouth slowly completed a sadistic smile.

The spell was completely and flawlessly molded into a long, ever-rotating blade of cloud, radiating an enchanting ultra-violet, and with its caster, it brandished forward to obliterate the flesh-eater. Every now and again, a crackle of bright purple lightning escaped the creases in its brilliant structure. This would definitely destroy a ghoul.

Tsukune turned against Garan in that instant, slaughter blazing in his now colorless irises. Faster than he had ever been, he wrapped his hand into a knuckle and launched forth, prepared to beat his former host to death.

"_Sepulchrum Veneficus: Maleficus Drill."_ The imposing wraith called to his incantation in Latin as Tsukune swiftly shambled his final advance. The phantasmal machine had completely materialized into a long, rotating beak of black metal with a buzz that, somehow, sounded more like the horrid scream of a woman being tortured. As long as the drill cranked, that scream continued to pierce. The violet lightning that had escaped it returned swiftly, wrapping around the spindle to add special spice to the impact. He threw the spinning lance out to the front of him to tear through Tsukune. The two neared each other quickly…

…But then something happened then that neither creature had intended.

The ghoul stopped short in his tracks. It was as if the wheels and gears had simply stopped working. Then Tsukune's shell form dropped its hands to its side, and hung its head up to gaze at the sky. All around him, a yet new aura rippled around him, and he was compelled to fall to his knees by an overburdening force. His would've-been executioner stopped the attack and held the humungous summoned tool off to the side. Only then, he observed silently.

Golden static, a new color, enveloped around the once-human boy. The scar cross-cutting his chest seeped with strange light. He clutched his broken holy locket tightly while the distorting aura continued in a violent reaction. Then, throwing his head up again, he let out a silent scream, and a powerful beam of lightning escaped his body, bursting for the heavens. It stretched into a great pillar, purging the sky of Paradise, tearing it into a great gap. Through the colored stars was the black of space.

The river seemed to sway away from Tsukune through the shock, and he finally ceased screaming and fell back down, taking all the earth around him into a crater with a twenty-foot diameter. There he lay in the center; eyes open numbly, his face emotionless. Yet despite his dead symptom, the golden lightning expanded around him in waves. Gold became scarlet. Scarlet became black. And into his body the black sank.

"What's going on down there, Garan no Danna, chuuuuu!" Selzix shouted from overhead, trying to keep from the wrong side of the lightshow.

The specter leaned to look down into the pit that his subject had created. His cold eyes flashed curiously, and then he finally concluded, _"His body is rebelling."_

More beams tore out of Tsukune's aura in electricity, and Tragedy was actually forced hold a free arm forward to make an impassible barrier around himself to keep from getting zapped too. Finally, the angry colors died down and left the boy alone.

The drilling mechanism that Garandou held dismantled spontaneously into various sprockets and gears, and he let the blackened metal fall and clank to the ground while his sight never left the motionless vessel below.

A sudden beat of life caused Tsukune's body to jump once with animation, and at last, he climbed out of the crater through clouds of dust, holding a hand over one eye in pain, or perhaps fatigue. No longer were his eyes emotionless or red. No longer had its iris a perfect sphere. Now, a four-sided star of a pupil peered out at the others, coated in the same refined color of the lightning that had surprisingly spared him. A faint gold glow beamed through at his onlookers, and if it wasn't inside of his head, the allure of it could have sold for a fortune.

"What…" His voice was quiet, but healthy. "What happened to me…?"

He looked up had his first sight; the torn garbs of the dark master. He received a cold stare back down at him in return. His face remained embedded safe and hidden beneath his cowl.

"My body…I can't feel it." His legs lost balance, and he fell to his knees again. It was like he was walking for the first time. "And then I _can_ feel. I feel pain…constant pain. It's…unbearable! Unbearable. How do I stop it?"

"_The remains of a human stripped of his merit of life, however keeping his mantle of flesh. They say that the status a ghoul must shoulder doomed to wand'r until Time and times are done is a pessimistic burden at best. Always in hunger, never in slumber. Because of the madness they were driven to, they hadst long since forgotten how to speak to the people that they once knew and were once like, and one by one, they each fell farther than any vampire would have ever dared to. Dost thou understand these words?"_ The greave clanked below his draped garments as he got down on one knee to get his face closer to Tsukune's, whose altered eyes glimmered with suspicion. Garan rested a skinless hand on his knelt knee and peered at his new friend very closely. _"How one such as thee is able to speak still is a true blessing. It means that thou art not one of them. Not extensively. You still have…a ways to fall. Keep thy feet until that day comes."_ He spotted Tsukune holding his fractured locket to himself, and Garan grabbed the wrist that held it up.

"I…remember you. You were the one that dragged me out of…mmm…" Tsukune clutched his head in pain. He was suddenly given such a migraine attempting to remember any details from before the time he came. A high-pitched beep sounded through his mind, as if shocking him for ever trying.

"_Tell me thy name."_ Garan pushed.

"My…n a m e . . ." He winced in greater pain yet. Pain that he never thought any person could feel. It was like his skull was slowly splitting apart. Fragmented images flashed in his thoughts, overheated and broken. Through the inner hell, he struggled for response. "I…can't…can't remember. My name… A name…I have forgotten… I hurt so much… So…much…"

"_With me."_ Garandou tried to support him, clearly recognizing that Tsukune's dizziness was about to claim him. He grabbed him by the shoulders to steady his balance, and the boy swooned weakly. Still, he seemed no longer effected by the extreme chill that came crawling when those bony fingers touched him. _"Tell me __my__ name, then."_

"Your…name…" His eyes closed with relaxation as the pain in his head dwindled ever so slightly. It almost completely drowned out the constant pain that he felt all over his body. "Ga-Garan…san…" He murmured peacefully. "Hai…hai, I remember…" He saw a double vision of the face shrouded in cloth in front of him. "Then why…can't I remember mine…?"

"_Remember anything else? With me; let no fatigue claim thee so soon."_ He gave him a slight shake to keep him awake. And there Tsukune could have thought as hard as he had his entire life, but there was no avail. Everything up to the point he was in Paradise was gone. Not just his name. But everyone he might have possibly knew. Everything he might have possibly seen. It was as if he was just born into this world alone, but he knew deep down that there was something missing from him. In his heart and mind, he had lost everything in such short time, and more than anything, at whatever price to be paid, he wanted it all to be his again.

The only thing that he could bring himself to remember at the moment was, "…Two monsters. One monster walked as a man."

"_Aye, aye marvelous. The lochstress and the ghoul…"_

"The lochstress and the ghoul…" Tsukune confirmed the details. "The ghoul…" His starred eyes shot open. "The GHOUL!" He shot to his feet, forgetting temporarily about his body's condition. "Where is he?! He…he killed me!!!"

"_Nay. 'Twas thy own hand. One ill turn deserves another, but you surely knew that. What was thy exact thought? What hast thou done?"_

"I…did it…?" Another burst of headache came, this time striking him so hard that a short electric discharge escaped him. He crumbled down into the ground, pathetic, his head half met the ground. Sweat beads were glistening on his forehead while he fought back his blurring vision. "That's right…I did it…but to what end?" He shook to sit up, and glared at an invisible object off to the side. "The act had a purpose, why can't I remember it?! This is all so weird…" He looked up at one of the only people he now knew. "…You remember it, don't you?"

"…"

"…"

The two stared at each other for a bit longer.

"…Did I tell you my name, at least?" Tsukune asked again from the ground, quickly becoming impatient.

Instantly, a bat broke out in front of Tsukune's face, blocking all his view. "Remember _my_ name, yosomono-kun?"

The reborn Tsukune seemed to lack the tolerance he once had, and he swatted Selzix out of eye line. With such tremendous strength used so effortlessly, the black bat shot into a hole at such fast rate that he just looked like a blurry bolt.

"My name!" He demanded Garan. "Two parts! A first name and a surname! If you know them, give them to me!"

"_Or to what harm shall I come?"_ The wraith challenged.

Tsukune's four jagged ends in his pupil seemed to shrink. "You're joking. You won't tell me?"

"_Never have I said that. I merely asked what would become of me if I refused. Or if I could give a title that was not truly thine. Hmmm…a good name for a pet, perhaps. I rather enjoy…Spark. It befits thy…"_ He looked upon the Youkai Academy student and stifled a chuckle at the effects of his many lightning discharges upon his now disproportional tower of hair. _"…character."_

Grumbling in a curse, Tsukune patted his hair back to normal shape and size, and looked at him in a scowl. "You and I do not share the same sense of humor." He concluded darkly. "Lend me my name."

"_So austere hast thou personality become. That miraculous little renewal hath left more than just physical traits so violently tempered."_

"Oh come now, Danna." Selzix flapped back to his perch in between two long spinal branches clinging to his master's shoulder. "Just give the poor kid his name. He's been put through a lot, chuu."

"_Hark."_ He finally replied. _"I shall do this for thee, child. I shall present to thee __a__ name."_

Tsukune got on guard. "What do you mean _a_ name? I demanded _my_ name."

"_This thing, thy name, it contributes much to thy foundations. Do not make the assumption that everything I do is done without condition."_ His whisper had become a hiss. _"Do __not__."_

A light gleamed coldly through Tsukune's changed eyes.

"_Besides, shouldeth thou thank of me? The name I offer thee is a name that held much of thy history before thou ended up here, with us. A name that may be the key to many more of the answers you might seek. If one's desire is to reclaim thy memory and severed history, then one must first know where to begin. And this is _your_ beginning."_ The bones under Garan's robes crackled noisily as he stood up and completely covered the light of the distant sunset behind him. _"Welcome to undeath."_

* * *

Moka ran alone through the hallway of her dorm, her shoes clattering across the tiled floor. A way to see Tsukune again? There was hardly time to breath at a chance like this. Two days had passed already, and she felt dry without Tsukune's companionship.

She hustled passed a sizeable window as she descended a couple flights of stairs. If any of the other girls had awoke from the commotion of the clapping echoes she carelessly made as she rushed, they would be too slow to ever find out who or what had made it. She darted straight through the main floor, through the lobby, and out the door. Her rush to the Board Exorcist Chairman's office took her through a starry night out on the academy campus, past sizeable healthy trees and a well-tended yard. Her heart was thumping hard by now.

'_Tsukune. Just wait for me. I'm coming.'_

While she ran up the straight soil path to the largest building in Youkai Academy, she paid hardly any attention to the shorter witch that merged a path to meet up with her. She was huffing like crazy to keep up with the driven vampire.

"You must work out on your Saturdays." She gasped, holding up her hat to keep it from falling off. "Desu~ and Stalker-girl are already up there, but the Board Director said that he wouldn't start until everyone who was interested came. It's really weird that he would let people into his office this late at night."

"The Headmaster found Tsukune?" Moka asked for good reassurance.

"Uh-huh. He spent all of his free time staking him out. Whatever interest he has is beyond me."

Moka looked at her from the side and then looked on. They were up at the school headmaster's doorstep by now. Wasting no time, the elegant S-Class vampire grabbed both handles of his humungous doors at once, and with her incredible strength, she swung them outward with such force that a wave of wind nearly swept the petite loli behind her off to a distant land.

They ran inside, through a grand hall outfitted with glass chandeliers and ominous portraits that possibly involved Youkai Academy and its history. But everything was of little value to Moka's eyes, and she sped off to leave everything as it were. They climbed flights of stony spiral stairways until finally they reached a door with a translucent glass window; the name **BOARD DIRECTOR** stuck to it bold and neatly.

For the first and only time in her whole prompt trip, she stopped completely at the door, but strangely, even though she stopped running, her heart rate increased ever more. The anxiety made her almost feel like passing out, but she knew that fainting was for anemia, and she preferred to remain conscious for this.

Through her lightheadedness, she wrapped her fingers around the handle of the door and slowly opened it. She stuck her head in and looked around cautiously at the sacred, hollowed ground that was the Headmaster's office. An unnatural bright green fire was going at his fireplace; the only source of light in the room besides otherwise the Board Director's ominous glowing eyes, now peering at the two knew guests as they walked silently through.

The room was enormous – an office even bigger than the entrance lobby, more space than anyone could ever need. As they watched the neat white marble ground, a rounded seal was already prepared with runes of some of the most advanced magicks. Layer upon layer, detail upon detail, it waited for Moka to approach it…seemingly it waited to serve its purpose and reveal the person of the hour that everyone wanted to see.

Around it stood all of his other admirers: Kurumu, Mizore, Ruby at her white superior's side. Even her sister, Shuzen Kokoa, who exhibited no personal interest in Tsukune at all, had come as well. Her presence unnerved the older of the sisters evermore, but compared to the exhilaration of seeing her closest friend again, it paled.

Following closely behind her, almost hiding, ambled the young witch prodigy Yukari to meet up with the others.

When they joined, the Director was the first to speak. Unlike Garandou, the Board Exorcist Chairman did not speak in whispers, but with a bold voice that carried an ominous air. _"At last you have arrived. I can hardly recall the previous time you even saw the door of my abode. The surroundings are to your tastes, I hope?"_

The two girls that had just entered both gave him one courteous bow, and Moka answered. "Yes, thank you. We heard the news. We got here as fast as we could."

"Well it couldn't have been fast enough." Mizore replied. "We were just starting to feel anxious."

"…But," the vampire responded, "I was the one who was rushing."

"Sometimes," the yuki onna stated, "It's worse to wait standing still than to wait while running."

"I'm sorry to inconvenience everybody, but I never suggested that anyone would wait for me."

"_No, that would be _me." The exorcist chimed in. _"All of you have your unique ties to Tsukune-kun, therefore it seemed interesting to gather all of you here. And so we waited."_

"Where did you find him?" Kurumu asked, staring into the seal on the ground. An ethereal black with white stars, floated around the giant plate. "Through this looking-glass?"

"_That 'looking-glass' as you called is a mechanism entrusted to me by the M.W.M. of Youkai Academy."_

"M.W.M…?"

"Ministry of Witches Magistry." Yukari informed. "A council board of the most sagacious witches, clerics, and oracles seeing to the magical use of all witches everywhere – in both the human world and the monsters'. They are also in charge of all artifacts and tools of magical property."

"Director-sama – you were actually entrusted a relic by the chamberlains of that court? That's quite the accomplishment." Ruby spoke in wonder.

"_Yes…sometimes it's good to be me."_ The exorcist grinned. _"Now let's see if I remember where Tsukune-kun was put…"_

He turned to look down at the window that was supposedly going to reveal a location. The girls gathered around close and leaned their heads in; each pair of emerald, amethyst, and sapphire eyes shrank in wonder at the glowing lines of the enchanted seal.

"_If this old memory serves me correct…the universal charter for his location was 666-8311000…aaaah yes…here we go."_

"Work your magic, Director-sama." Ruby called from his side. "You've got this!"

The exorcist's smile deepened, and he held a hand forward to the eye of the window and chanted with holy tongue.

"_**Falsus fenestra , unus - pars speculum , commodo nos eyes amo vestri."**_ The window came alive. A bright maelstrom shone through the middle, causing the girls to shield their eyes while the exorcist continued. The eye inside the gem of Moka's Rosario seemed to expand in anticipation._** "Per vestri celestial vas sol solis quod luna , trado unto nos vestri specialis. Ostendo nos humanus ut eram quondam Monasteriense. In Paradise is socius. Take nos…"**_

A great ethereal flame burst asunder through the rounded frame, and all of the girls screamed as it roared past them. If it weren't phantasmal, it would have scorched everyone in the room. The Chairman didn't even flinch, and the invisible force blew at his robes viciously. The cross around his neck held resiliently. _"That was…unexpected."_

"What happened?! I thought for a moment we were gonna get our faces blown off!" Kokoa complained loudly.

"Director-sama…what happened?" Ruby asked timidly, not wanting to believe that the headmaster that she looked up to failed at something.

"Wh-where's Tsukune?" Kurumu asked as both she and Mizore had their hands rested against the glass.

"_Now that couldn't be right. The Sukai Mirror couldn't possibly be that shy. Unless…oh my."_

"What's wrong?" Moka already had worried tears welling in her eyes. "Tsukune's okay, isn't he???"

"_There could be a…slight hiccup in the hymn. I could change it and see if it works…"_ His white star eyes turned to the girls darkly. _"But everyone…I want you to pray that this will not work."_

"Pray that it won't work? I don't like the sound of that." Mizore murmured.

"Director-sama," Moka was in such a state of concern that she was almost inclined to touch the man's arm to get his attention. He she looked him in the eyes as hardest as she could, and finished, "What happened to Tsukune?"

He shook his head from under the hood and proceeded to change the recitation, _**"Ostendo nos Monasteriense ut eram quondam humanus. In Paradise is socius. Sit requiro nobis."**_ With a last draw of breath, everyone's hearts raced except his as he finished the final verse._** "…Take nos ut him."**_

The mirror's light shined again. But this time, it raced across lands, from mountain ranges to the vast reaches of space, through colored dimensions, into a land with many colors. At last, it ended at a great river.

Standing next to it, speaking to a tall stranger in a tattered black cloak, was a boy not to be mistaken by anyone watching for anyone else.

"It's…" Kurumu and Mizore's expressions were still with shock, and their eyes trembled. While Yukari threw her witch's hat up with cheer, and Ruby revealed an accomplished smile, the snow girl and the succubus threw each other a half hug in extreme joy. "TSUKUNEEEEEE!!!"

"We found him at last!"

Kokoa, taking no part in the cheer, just crossed her arms and turned up her nose, facing away with closed eyes.

Moka covered her mouth with hands shivering with excitement and relief. "Tsukune…"

Almost everyone was shouting with enough volume to awaken both dorms around them. When two days had seemed like two months, they had found him, realizing how bland that school life really was when there was nothing to draw interest to. But without even questioning the person that their love interest was now speaking to, they were content to finally find him.

But the party crashed almost instantly on sign of the Board Exorcist Chairman's words:

"_Just as I feared."_

Everyone froze in awkward positions dance positions and turned their heads slowly to see the school's now brooding leader.

"Eeeeeeeh?"

"_The spell chant was indeed misinterpreted."_

"What do you mean?" They all asked almost simultaneously.

"_I will explain. But first, Ruby-san, would you kindly explain to the other girls the Nature of this mirror?"_

"I-I will." The eldest of two witches rested her hands in front of her and bowed once, concerned for why this lesson was needed. "The Sukai Mirror, founded by Sir Eldritch, a judge councilman that served the Ministry of Witches Magistry during a religious Reformation in the Middle Ages. It is a special artifact that answers only to Latin words spoken, and a base description of who or what it is that the person using it wishes to see, and a location of the desired scenario. Basically, the magic mirror from_ Snow White_ made real. Also, it only answers to royalty or powerful magic-users."

Board Chairman instinctively took over. _"Thank you. Now here's the situation."_ Everyone had their ears tuned in toward him, even the once uninterested Kokoa. _"What I said to the Mirror was in Latin. A verse of the incantation I first used was 'Ostendo nos humanus ut eram quondam Monasteriense', meaning 'Show us the human that was once monster.'"_

"Wait, this Tsukune guy is a _human?"_ Kokoa practically choked with the reality. Turning to a fidgeting Moka, she concluded, "You have sunk unspeakably low, sister."

Moka ignored her sister's unpleasant chides and silently pleaded to the Chairman to continue. He did.

"_The way we actually ended up _locating_ Tsukune-kun turned out to be the true complication. You see…when I changed the passage, I used 'Ostendo nos Monasteriense ut eram quondam humanus'. In short, I switched the words 'human' and 'monster' with each other when I was describing him to the window."_

"'Human' and 'monster' were swapped…" Ruby pondered. Her eyes shot open in shock upon figuring out what the Chairman had meant, but before she could say, Mizore took it from her with a bitter voice.

"'Show us the monster that was once human.' …Oh no…"

"_But it seems that it is in fact true. Who or whatever the Tsukune is that you all now have your eyes on is clearly not human. Has my little gift broken off from him so soon?"_

"Wait…are you insinuating that he's a ghoul?!" Kurumu spat.

The exorcist crossed his arms. _"I am not insinuating that he is a human. The Mirror never lies. However, often times have people deceived themselves by jumping to conclusion. If you wish, you may resume your watch over him and see. I have accomplished what I felt was right."_ (By 'right', he means 'interesting') _"So I now depart to my room."_ He turned and lightly clicked in step towards the door._ "For all of your own good, I recommend not overstaying here. Or you will be in no condition to attend class. Ruby-san, do keep a weary eye on the others so that they do not take anything with them that they shouldn't."_

He closed the door behind them, and the girls got to their knees to continue peering at Tsukune, who they could only hope hadn't changed.

"_This is such a disaster,"_ they heard his voice clearly through the mirror. It was like watching television. _"How can I be dead? If I were a ghoul, wouldn't I be…unlike myself?"_

"_Fromst thou personality tuned, I shall say yay."_

From the window, Kurumu turned her head and whispered to the ice girl next to her in the dark. "Who's this guy?"

"Shh. Trying to watch."

* * *

"I couldn't have been born here. Tell me my name." Tsukune beckoned again.

Garandou was about to speak again, but a great rumble shook the land, and everyone about lost balance. Then Tsukune held the ground firm, and shouted, "Wh-what the hell is this?!"

They locked firm to the soil until the massive earthquake subsided. A great darkness slowly stretched over the sky, and a new moon with a bloody red ring soon hung high. An eclipse.

"_Ah. They are…earlier than usual."_ Garan announced to himself.

"Ga-Garandou No Danna! We have to hurry from here! It's _them_, chuu!"

The girls each looked at each other from their watchpoint. Overhearing the name, some repeated to themselves curiously.

"_From the boy's sudden awakening hast all of Paradise caught. It must have triggered a reaction. The Hills emerge. They come."_

"Who?" Tsukune asked, his eyes shrunk with startle. "Who comes?"

"That is an _excellent_ question!" Selzix shouted as he flapped furiously. "Folks I personally think you don't want to meet, chuu!"

"That doesn't entirely answer my question!" Tsukune yelled, but it was drowned out by the shifting of earth and the many cries and moans of something that made his heart drop.

Very, very slowly, Garan and his pet bat creaked their heads to face each other. And at the same time, they announced nonchalantly,

"_Ooooooooooooooh my."_

Several hundred arms instantly burst asunder from the River, and from the earth all around; some normal, some with tattered sleeves, some semi-decomposed, some completely skeletal. Water and soil alike flew up into the blackened sky, and everyone took to the tall trees around to keep from being clawed in by the army of corpses digging their way out of the surface.

All of the youkai girls watching from the window were now in jaw-gaping horror. "Oh my God! What's happening?"

"The ground!" Yukari shouted. "It's coming alive!"

Tsukune stood firm on one of the stronger branches of a tree, while the dark master seemed to levitate around another with his tiny companion.

"So now what happens?" Tsukune called over to the shroud.

"_If thou seeketh the name I have to give thee, dispose of this rabble."_

"What??! Me – take all of those things down below?? …There are hundreds of them!"

They waited in the trees a bit longer while the many, many ghouls down below were now scratching off the bark of the trunks that held their newfound pray. Almost every face had a horrid feature; from a missing eye to exposed jawbone. Some were wounded and bled grotesquely, while others were old and dusty. It was like finding yourself in the middle of a zombie horror flick – something that no one wants to star in.

"Wait…" Tsukune announced, looking down with his arms crossed in thought. The dead moaned and wheezed loudly from below. "I hear them. It's like I understand them."

"Eeeeaaah? You mean you can communicate what the Ones Beneath the Hill are moaning?" Selzix asked.

Tsukune nodded. "Not everything, but—"

"What do they want??!!"

They all gazed down as some of the front line corpses proceeded to claw up the trees. They reached up longingly for Tsukune. Snapping his head back frantically, he asked the two off at the side, "Do you want the long version or the short version?" He asked quickly.

"There's no time, chuu!!!"

Just as swiftly, Tsukune answered nonchalant, "Short version it is. They're very hungry and they want to eat us."

The closest ghoul to him cracked its incomplete jaw open, groaning painfully for him. Its opaque eyes dripped something like milk. With hardly any choice left, Tsukune snapped his head back to look at the creature that he knew had been the one to tear him from wherever he was from.

"You said that if I attack these things, you'll give me a name from the past I can't remember?"

"…'_Tis the degree."_

Tsukune's scar on his bare chest rippled with strange sparks. The once-living human took an empty breath and dove off the branch to crash into the many unsuspecting carcasses below. "A deal's a deal!!!" was the last thing he said on his way down.

"Tsukune!!!" Moka shouted over the mirror, watching her friend plummet to obliteration. But it was no use. No one would hear from his side.

"Has he lost it?!" Kokoa bursted after.

Tsukune's body glowed with a radiant red electrical build up, and upon impacting the first ghoul below, a shock wave blew the closest group into the water. The explosion of lightning flashed so brightly that it almost filled the girls' entire view of the mirror.

"Woah!" Yukari was first to express her astonishment. "Since when could Tsukune do _that?"_

Rising slowly off the gravel, Tsukune mumbled almost drowsily with something similar. "I didn't know I could do that."

An assailant limped in blind hunger for him, and in the slightest burst of scarlet around him, the attacker seemed to freeze. Acting quickly, Tsukune threw a punch towards the seemingly slow-moving creature, and lightning instinctively guided his fist. It collided against the broken being's ribcage, and thunder sounded out as it sailed off in a charged stream of light. As the static carried the body, it impacted a larger group of the Hill, and exploded in a brilliant flash, taking all of its friends with it.

"Ah." Tsukune sank to one knee. "I'm not used to fighting like this. I'm draining myself."

From the embankment, he saw at least half a hundred more ghouls rip out through the water and approach him with madness in their glassy eyes.

Tsukune looked mournfully down at the broken holy locket in this hand as they lumbered forth. Clutching the chain tight, he glared intently up at the undead crowd with his brand new four-tipped pupils. He held both hands off to the side, as if about to contain something. "A deal…"

White static crackled to his hands. He wasn't built to last long yet, but he wanted to make the last ounce of power always count. As the orb of power spiraled in his hands, he jumped high up in the air and threw it down at the River as hard as he could.

"Is a deal!!!"

The bright blue surge of raw power rained upon the many corpses below in one devastating streak, and the entire crowd flew to and fro with Tsukune's ruthless attack.

A beam of light streamed forth out of the Sukai Mirror from the attack, so great that all of Tsukune's admirers were rendered temporarily blind.

"His level of power is voluminous!" Ruby cried, covering her face with an arm. "Is this guy…is this guy really Tsukune-kun?!"

The one she spoke of was now down on two knees. As he was forced to all fours by his body, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. The River in front of him that he had once found so beautiful was now a tundra of complete ice; spikes and pillars of his attackers frozen and fused into it.

"I over did it…" Tsukune told himself. "…again."

He crouched down into a crumpled position to recover, but a shuffle of gravel behind him stopped his respite dead.

Looking back weakly over his shoulder, he spotted one more ghoul looming with its head hung to the side, staring blankly down at him with a half-exposed skull in his face, and an empty socket on that side.

With a perfectly human spare eye, he didn't instantly attack Tsukune, but instead moaned out something that Tsukune had just vaguely understood.

"Damn, kid. …You're good."

He leered back up at the corpse with a proud eye, and responded dryly, "Hehe…thanks."

In flash instant, the ghoul lunged for him with his jaw hung wide open to chew the hybrid apart, but Tsukune was faster by far, and he slung his entire body around with one arm to the ground, viciously kicking the final foe's head clear off of his shoulders. It flew far off, and Tsukune crumbled back down to the ground, his last ounce of energy spent.

Blood seeped out to the side of his face as his eyes stared emptily on with his head to the ice he created. He had accomplished his mission. He would finally learn the name that Garan had dangled over him.

Besides the tortured cries of lost souls wandering in the distant night unaware of his presence, everything around him was silent.

On the other side of the mirror that spied on him, all of the girls were absolutely speechless at what had just transpired. Like the others, Moka was frozen on the spot, gaping in absolute silence at her closest friend's now apoplectic body. The aura around him had depleted from him.

But amidst whatever shock there may be on the outside, a voice keeping quietly to itself from the relic around Moka's neck echoed from the slit pupil of her Rosario gem.

'_Oh. Tsukune…'_ it giggled with amusement. _'You've picked up some new tricks…haven't you?'_


	6. Meeting the Doktor

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 6: Meeting the Doktor  
**

Moka and the other hosts of monstrous beauty slowly but surely departed from the Chairman's office, completely struck at what they had witnessed about Tsukune, the once-human ayashi with new power possibly enough to freeze half of the academy over in unforgiving frost before he would ever be brought down by anyone. However, to Mizore, this new little trait he'd picked up – and on such a level and extend of power in the margin – it filled her chilled heart with butterflies. If anyone could possibly establish a sense of warmth to a yuki onna, a mistress of ice, it was none other than Aono Tsukune. Always full of surprises, even from the day she first laid eye upon eye.

And as she walked through the campus shrouded in the midnight mist, she held out her hand to her heart and calmly witnessed it beat with even greater love for him than ever before. Her expression was emotionless for most part, yet though through it all, the slightest stroke of blush graced her pale cheeks. And with further processing on the manner, it became clear to her. Such feelings like this – surely they must be unhealthy. Both he and his new nature are the perfect spouses for her, and in that being said, _he_ was positively crystallized in a glimmering aura of perfection, and to her refined tastes, like her favorite frozen dessert that she had always hoped that one day they could share together.

Entrapped and entangled in zeal of affection for her missing friend, she kept her thoughts locked quietly inside as she walked through a section of trees in the campus with the others.

Kurumu was greatly impressed as well. Lightning? She didn't know any monster in Youkai Academy capable of producing that. Although as a succubus the power to her didn't completely match her area of fighting, she was entranced at the beauty of the power that crackled at her Destined One's fingertips as he exhibited his new Nature upon a group of flesh-eating ghouls massive enough to crumble Kyoto. He wielded his new power mysteriously, although perhaps a bit ruthlessly, seeing as though it had taken it out of him almost instantly when he froze the large water form over from bank to bank, taking all opposing forces against him with the clamor. But although they were forced to leave him alone for the night for the sake of their own good mental states, she had faith that although he was down, he would rise again, stronger than he was before.

Because that was the Tsukune she knew.

Overcome with mixed feelings of his new ascension, she smiled to the moon, knowing through the tension and instinct of the ayashi that she was that it would not be long before the two of them meet again.

Aside of her, Moka walked along the group, slower than the others, as if there was something afflicting her innocent mind as she fidgeted her fingertips. Mournful as she stared the ground down, she felt sandwiched in between the _Ura_ Moka and the boy that had taken her in as a friend upon her first steps into a new life. A better life, away from the eyes of the humans in the school that she cast herself out of. She liked Tsukune, and she hoped with every starving cell in her body that his feelings towards her as an individual Moka would not be affected by the horrid things that her other half did to him on the day he disappeared. Yet here he was, but the first words that she had heard the boy say had gravely upset her.

"_How could I be dead?"_

But he didn't look dead! He looked fine! Sure he looked a bit pale, a bit anemic like her, a bit altered around the eyes, but there was no mistaken that he was _alive_ at least! And she wished only that the School Director had prepared earlier so that she could see just what had happened to him. People don't just buy their way into powers like this. Something was up. As much as she wished there was something that she could do, she was stranded at the mirror; a window making the distance of about thirteen light years away from each other seem like not such a long way off. And there she planned to continue her observation of Tsukune. Tsukune, who when last they had met person to person, had crawled away from her with his body in utter disrepair. The thought churned in her gut and made her mutter a grunt of displeasure. It was the sound that any displeasured person makes when they remember their most guilty memory. A sound embodying the urge to walk into the past and changed whatever that person might have said or did to another. And this was yet her deepest regret.

Her troubled heart heaved as she herself heaved a long sigh into the fog. There was no telling what Tsukune would think of her now. And she hated thinking about it almost as much as she did the possible outcome that he would glare her to death with his new eyes upon look at her next. And there was no worse way of dying than that. He frightened her. He did. And if it were at such a great distance, then she couldn't possibly imagine what seeing him would be like if he were standing right in front of her, a neglected ghost. It was like watching an animal that you abused since it was young escape and waiting for it to come back in a more dangerous form and rip your throat out. And the more she thought about it, the more the poor vampire shivered.

Yukari, walking in perplexed thought next to her, had a different concern in her mind. He couldn't remember? He couldn't remember _anything?_ Of all times for a person to lose their memory. Now Tsukune has to go and leave everyone behind at school while he's off wandering a distant dimension fraught with danger and fun. …Mostly danger, but danger could be fun.

"Haaaaah it's troubling." Everyone turned in their due appropriate angle at the youngest witch as she practiced balancing her unique rod, a pout to her face. "I mean it's good that we found Tsukune and everything, but do any of you ever get that feeling that you think you'll be content with something until you achieve it and then you realize that you wanted more?"

"Eaaahh…Yukari…" Kurumu muttered in slight sweatdrop on her face, "You really could have stated something like that better…"

"Well it's true! Moka-saaaan~! In more ways than one!" She winked at her cheerfully, seemingly taking her level of desire with the pride of a vampire. Moka hardly paid attention. She was too much of a prisoner in her own worries to begin to speak. "But now that we actually found Tsukune…it would be nice to actually have him back. …Or at least if we could, um…converse with him."

"The Chairman worked hard finding him." Mizore breathed cold air out around the thin white shaft of the candy in her mouth as she spoke. "It would be too much to ask anymore out of him for now. I think he's more concerned about showing us that Tsukune was okay so that he wouldn't have us worrying ourselves to the point of neglecting our studies."

"Can you really be so sure?" Kurumu asked. "Did you see Tsukune's expression? It's like…he's not the same Tsukune. And his _eyes?"_

"Did you see what he did to all those ghouls?!" Yukari jumped in uplifted excitement, her hand clasped tightly to the witch's wand she kept close. "Remember _our_ encounter with a ghoul? Our first and only?"

She watched dissatisfied as the other three maidens' faces darkened. Who was the ghoul? None other than the man they were speaking of.

"How…can we forget…?" Their voices were laggard and raspy. Their thoughts turned to the past, and there they froze, for in their heads, they individually stood facing the mirage of abomination that became of Tsukune. It was temporary, but the memory stuck well. And it haunted their dreams.

In the back of their heads, they each had the image preserved perfectly in their minds. His face white with the stop of blood. His eyes rusted, dull, and red. Then in a wicked and unholy smile, the hideous erosion of skin and veins crack long down and across the neck displayed to them all where Moka's fangs had touched, scarred, desecrated. His dress shirt was shriveled and wrinkled. His raw wilderness was such that every cell – every vampiric cell in his body belonging to Moka seemed to taunt them, and the only word that he could spit was _"Kill"_.

They each turned and fled that thought without a second glance, because even in their imagination, he still beckoned to them. Ever present. Always hungry.

Kurumu gently put her hand against her side where Tsukune had taken a jab against her, grazing her skin. She remembered his merciless strength and how he used it against his own friends that day. She never wanted to see him like that.

_Ever_ again.

"I tell you, the day he turned into…you know, and he beat up all those Anti-Thesis thugs…" Yukari's outspoken reminiscence was frightful. "Remember how hard he was to stop, even for _Ura_ Moka-san? And yet he…"

"Stop. None of us want to think about that." Kurumu stood firm against the subject. And in the snap of a finger, her demeanor changed from one of child-chiding concern to affection and heated passion towards another. "But _mmmmm_ how Tsukune has improved! I mean I liked him before I thought he could do any of this, but—"

"Whatever he is," Mizore interrupted the smitten succubus girl, "Whatever Tsukune is now, he can fight."

They were nearing the ladies' dorm area now. Eager to know that the sooner they fell asleep, the faster time flew, and the sooner they could see Tsukune again, it was unanimously decided that it was necessary to take a short cut off the path. Through the grass they continued to step. The night air was alive with crickets and frogs creating nocturne tunes. All was at peace, and yet there was unrest amongst the campus.

It was along the journey that Kurumu had a crossing of revelation in her mind. In many of her squabbles with the other girls over the man that they all adore, she almost instantly grew the desire to surpass all of them in order to show Tsukune that she was different from the rest. Even a freakishly strong vampire like Moka. In a world of ayashi, to find the strongest mate was to _be_ the strongest. And, of course, the most attractive. In this, Kurumu had confidence enough to be sure, but she needed to support all aspects of being the perfect Destined One as a succubus, including her ability to defend her family. What better place to start the tier of the strongest female than with her current rivals of love?

"I think it's fairly obvious that as things are now, only the mightiest of the ladies should have Tsukune." She dangled the challenge in front of all the other girls. They drew to her lightning rod accordingly.

"Neeee? You serious, boob-woman? You should not say such things unless you are at the top of the food chain." Mizore answered. Her fingertips instantly elongated into sleek and slender branches of claws seemingly composed of ice. "In other words, you would have to defeat someone who simply outmatches you in the end in order to get to Tsukune. Me."

A gentle smirk crept across Kurumu. As expected, the stalker-gal was the first to answer her challenge. The two of them had been the most involved with getting at each others' throats. Claws against claws. Charms against ice. The two enchantresses of romance had equal zeal against each other and for Tsukune, and it would have also been the case with Moka, except the sealed version was a pacifist, always keeping to her own in detest to violence. Therefore, Kurumu saw very little challenge towards that girl, except since Tsukune always seemed to enjoy hanging around her the most. Kurumu would probably have to take her last. It would take a long ways of training to go to even think about taking on S-Class things, but that was all part of what would make the charmer so proud of her accomplishment when she would finally defeat the ominous and menacing _Ura_ Moka. The thought even now almost brought a tear to her eye.

"You can't be serious, Desu~. Moka-san would just crumble the both of you!" Yukari protested against the two would-be lovers posing challenged combat for Tsukune.

"Yukari-chan…" Moka broke her silence and spoke for the first time on the trip. "Why are you bringing me into this…?"

The witch snapped her head to flash a confident eye at her dreamed 'triple-sandwich-bed-buddy' before announcing "Well I mean _right?_ It's how it always happens: amidst crisis and chaos, Moka-san will awaken and deliver swift retribution to the offender!" Then she cycled into a dreamier state of mind and spoke as she thought back, "Like remember when those ugly lizardmen attempted to assault me and you came and then Tsukune came and then you shattered their jaws and gave them various compound fractures and ---"

"Have you forgotten that Tsukune was the only one around that could awaken Ura-chan? Now if there was any trouble around, I won't be able to help much…"

Kurumu's attention voluntarily shifted from one issue to another. "Isn't there anyone else that can lift that thing off of you? A random human couldn't be the only one, what about the person that _gave_ you that seal, Moka?"

"My dad? Well, he…"

Her father. A Dark Lord of Youkai Academy. If his hobby for completely and utterly overkilling any male in his presence so much as stepping near his daughter wasn't scary enough, his position was. He was the strongest of the Three, and if you came close enough to catch whiff of the terrible youkai energy pouring from his soul, you'd soon be aware. He always treaded alone; taking the lightest of steps through shadows and space, and growing up around him was troublesome even for the strongest of the sisters. You could think that he was halfway around the world, and he could be standing right behind you, arms folded in that 'fatherly' way. The punishment for wrongdoing really sucked too. Poor Kokoa – a couple of the times he was in real disdain, his S-Class super-swats usually put her down and kept her down – implying that she couldn't move her lower half to walk for a day or seven.

This other time, he threatened (in a _very_ 'fatherly' way) to pin a stake through Kahlua if she ever decided to bail out on another one of her sisters' graduations again for a guy, or, the term loosely used by himself, 'some sexually-driven anthropomorphic mongrel'.

Oh, the girls didn't need a mother by his side to keep themselves in line. They came quietly, and overall, everyone did a fair job of keeping themselves on his good side except for Kokoa, who was the most tomboyish out of all of them; a personality found to be distasteful by her father. He always believed that a proper girl was a girl that took interest in the kind of things that a girl should. Nevertheless, her personality stuck. Even a Dark Lord couldn't completely change a person.

But Moka's childhood wasn't an overall pleasant one, and on hear of her breath quicken as she announced that her father was too busy to devote his service to removing the Rosario practically weekly when it needed to be, it was fairly blatant.

They each stepped into the lobby of their dorm, deciding to stand in the center to keep each other at company for a bit longer. Kurumu let out a long, cat-like stretch, her impressive breasts bouncing as she threw herself slightly back.

"Ah." Yukari sighed as she sat herself on the floor and curled her knees up to wrap her arms around. "I feel only two-thirds complete. We need Tsukune back."

"And how do you propose we go about doing that?" Kurumu asked through a half-yawn. "Let me know if you have a plan, and I'll snatch him before you can blink."

"I'm brilliant, but I don't know if I'm the best." The witch responded with a sudden drop to her spirits. "That Garandou guy sure is creepy. I'm not sure if I want to try any magic around him. …What is he, exactly?"

"He doesn't look like he resembles a monster. He can't be all that bad…" Mizore concluded with some speculation. "But he's with Tsukune… We can't guess what he wants with him. The way he teased him into throwing himself at those ghouls…which I might add that he defeated with _my_ element."

Kurumu could have practically dropped her jaw to the floor at hearing this dangled over her. It was clear that the snow witch was trying to base intimate traits off of what they had in common as if to let the rest of the harem think that Tsukune belonged to…_her._

"How-how dare you!" She shouted aloud, and everyone was surprised at the fire that spontaneously rekindled in her attitude, arousing her from her drowsiness. Her amethyst eyes glistened potently as she continued, "You think that just because you don't have worry about overheating around him now you can simply pluck him out from under me?!" Her nails shot out into long, pink, razor-sharp claws, having half a mind to scratch the snow girl's face off. "Fat chance!"

"Oh?" Mizore's hands froze over to reveal her signature trait as a goddess of ice. "Because in his new development, I don't recall him growing breasts like yours, boob-woman."

"Wh-what in the hell is that supposed to mean??"

The seductress would have probably went into a bigger fit, but the mood of the entire room changed for the worst as a fifth girl entered the room, flinging her pigtails out in a way that said she was disgusted by what she was seeing. Her scowl was childish, but in her eyes a lighter hue of her sisters' there was deeper meaning. She wasn't much threat to look at, no, but this vampire was growing exponentially with natural pride ruling her veins. Kokoa stood in a tomboyish pose with her hand to her hip. Her loyal creature fluttered high in orbit around her, smiling happily as always.

"You four…" She pointed a well-kept fingernail at the lot of smitten ayashi females, "…are pathetic. You call yourself a succubus?" Her footsteps clattered near the other girls; each girl rewarding her blunt comment with their own disdaining faces. "Succubae are the creatures that embody the elements of Lust and Lechery. They are highly renowned for their charms and such, but even _they_ have the sense to use their seductive powers to their finest and choose the strongest of creatures as their mates. Are you prepared to tell me that one of these…angels of pleasure is seeking favor upon a lowly human?"

Kurumu's cheeks gained slight color off of this criticism. "Don't you dare tell me how to spend my gifts."

"A yuki onna." Kokoa deliberately ignored her warning and carried straight on towards her next public victim. Shirayuki Mizore. The school stalker. "A witch of snow. Skin so pale, so flawless, eyes oh-so delicate and neat," she grinned with mischievous satisfaction as Mizore's posture slightly sank. "I heard that you _ice maidens_ were short on your kind," her speech was slightly elevated with a jeering snicker, "but I never would've assumed that the cause was so desperate."

"You," Mizore stammered, glaring with more concern than anger. "Are you to say that Tsukune is weak after what everyone saw back there? He looks pretty fit for me – and that is to say, me alone." Her pale hands quickly shifted and transformed into long branches of blue ice. Her fingernails grew into long, translucent icicles. This devastating appearance she had used occasionally in the past; anything she merely touched could burst into a cold, inorganic glacier. Such was the power of her rare and exotic race. But Kokoa smiled at her unconditionally: she was faster than Mizore. "Are you one, _Lesser_ Ura-san," She taunted Kokoa for her inferiority to her impassive sister, "to lay out the rules of the ayashi to us? To tell us whom we should be enamored with? The last I heard, love was a free emotion."

Kokoa's confidence blossomed further. Her smile only deepened, and she spoke again, revealing small, sharp fangs as she did so. It was that type of smile that you would just love to smack off of someone. "Oh don't get me wrong," she insisted, throwing her hands up in front of her. "I have nothing against any of your monster ethnicities. Please, do what you want for all I care. I'm just saying that it's shameful for just about _any_ monster…to fall for a human."

"Kokoa-chan…" Moka spoke in her soft and timid voice. "You sound an awful lot like Dad. Please don't make such cruel claims."

There was no worse mistake for her to make than by speaking. Her younger sibling was made quickly aware of her, and her expression became cold and bitter. How _dare_ she speak up to her. She wasn't even her _real_ sister. The reason that Kokoa set out from home was to find Youkai Academy. And the reason that Kokoa set out for finding Youkai Academy was to find her true Onee-sama. And when her quest finally closed, she ultimately finds this feeble _'Omote'_ form of the elder sibling that she adored so wildly. She agreed that she would wait (however impatiently) for this Tsukune kid to come strutting along so that she could force him to surrender her sister back to her, but NEVER would she have taken to the assumption that Tsukune was a human.

Moka felt her sister look her over with her analytical eyes, much in the manner of how someone forcefully examines a dog to see if it's healthy or not. And as the innocent older sister kept still, Kokoa had long since discovered that she had some hidden feelings for that boy. Disgusting.

"You…" They all heard the strain of her teeth as they clenched tightly together. The evil she seethed was terrifying. "You are the biggest disappointment of all." Moka's chin slowly dropped. She could feel herself tremble in shame. Her sister held no pity. "I don't even want to state who you are. What you should be. I would only insult Dad. And myself. I could tolerate you, but to fall in love with a human…is something that an S-Class monster must never _ever_ do."

"I…It's not like I…" Her sister was at a loss of words. Whether those words got lost in fear of what her sister might try to do to her if she spoke out, or if she was uncertain of her own feelings was unclear. Kokoa didn't care. She loved her sister, and she would now prove that by striking her hard with truth. If their father were here, he would certainly bring the conversation to a much more critical level.

"You what? You don't know? Well that's okay. Screw liking him, you chose to _befriend_ a human? I'm not trying to be racist about this whole deal, no matter how much all of you may think I am, but I'm just trying to stick my neck out for my sister, even if that means sticking it out for _you_, Omote. It was Onee-sama that strove with such dedication to ensure that every creature knew his or her place, but human beings are the most indignant and stubborn creatures imaginable! Do you have any idea what kinds of sins humans are capable of – especially the men? Or did Dad teach you nothing?!"

Moka's lip quivered weakly.

"They lie! They betray! Sister, they can't ever be trusted! Men are as weak men do. They swoon and fawn over the prettiest girl. Tsukune must be no different. He'd break your heart one day…"

Moka burst out light years faster than she could have ever caught herself, and tears washed down her face as she did. Her heart was beaten. A shrill scream was in her head. In words, she let it out, and every cell in her body powered her on. "What do you have against Tsukune??!! Kokoa!!!!" The room itself could have possibly let out an audible gasp. "You think you know a human inside and out?! How could you?! You're barely in your teens!! You're barely past your first period! You think that humans are so evil and so malicious, but that's because of how Father raised you! How he raised all of us!!! I spent the lonely years of my life around humans! I have more experience where you have hardly any! No, Kokoa-chan. They're not perfect. But how you're dangling that imperfection over them makes them all seem like devils! Don't ever doubt Tsukune! Because from what it's worth, he's the strongest, kindest, most noble friend I ever had the privilege to know! Humans aren't weak! That they are is just what you and Dad…and Ura-chan believe! Be a little more true to yourself!!!"

If half the dorm area wasn't blown awake by the echo of her outburst, it would be amazing. Every girl in the lobby froze. Kokoa stumbled back in a state of awe, but she quickly retained a defiant stare. The two glared each other down; Moka's eyes were bright with water, and her sisters' were dry and strong. After a long silence, Kokoa burst out laughing. No one knew what to think.

"Now that's more of what I like to see," she announced in between strokes of glee, "Even a person as soft-natured as Omote losing her head. Over such a trifle matter. This is why I like Onee-sama more. She'd never bend to an act like this. She'd be more likely to kick the crap out of me, put my pieces back together, and then kick the crap out of them again!"

Moka rigidly brushed a strand of pink hair out of her eye line, and after a moment of calming her senses, she patiently replied, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Kokoa-chan. But Ura-chan isn't here now. I am."

"You are…" The new Freshman vampire nodded her head, "until Tsukune gets back. And then I'll make him rush for a chance to get that seal off, my sweet sister. I'll be sure that my words to you reflect that."

"I wouldn't talk like that if I were you." Kurumu broke in and warned her cockily. "Tsukune's just a _little bit_ stronger than he was when we all saw him last time. And you've never met him. Are you really sure you want to risk that?"

If this wasn't a bluff, nothing was. She didn't even freaking know if the man was alright, let alone if he was tough enough to take on even a juvenile vampire. But if whatever she could say could help keep Tsukune from even more harm and stress, then it should be said, and _would_ be said. And even though she was her love rival, Moka's words were touching. She had to put at least twenty-five percent of the whole cause to backing her up as well. And all things pushed aside, this was one _really irritating_ little girl.

"You think that just because he incapacitated a group of corpses he deserves my respect?" She sneered stubbornly. "Hardly. Just remember what the Exorcist said. He's one of them now. It's unfortunate, but you'll find that the state of being dead is a bit…irreversible."

"Tsukune isn't dead." The other girls objected. "No. Definitely not dead."

Kokoa threw a hand to her forehead and laughed hysterically. This wasn't an argument. It was a comical flick. Well, there's no helping what the others thought. She confronted the group to protect her sister, not to shatter the already fragile dreams of these abnormally-toned monsters.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed." She began to advance for the large row of stairs in the center of the lobby for her room, then stopped to add one last thing, half to the others, half to herself. "I don't believe I've ever had such a strong mix of outrage and entertainment settled in me before." As her dress shoes clattered along the marble steps, Mizore furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head wearily at the backside of the vampire child. Kurumu was still in a puff, and it would probably be half an hour before the heated blush in her cheeks vanished. She had never felt so insulted in her whole life.

"We ought to try and not let her words get to us." Yukari loosely advised.

It was the most blatant advice of the evening. Apart from her nature stemming from the vampire hierarchy to instantly hate anything that could be called a human, she just flat outright tried to smear in their faces that Tsukune was unfit for a monster of any kind. Really blasphemous words within the harem.

"Sorry." All of the girls turned their attention towards a now-ashamed pink-haired vampire that was busy mournfully bowing her head to them. "I'm so sorry that you had to see that. And I'm sorry that my sister gave all of us a hard time." The emerald glaze in Moka's eyes informed the others that she meant every word of what she said. She carried this innocence like an emergency first-aid kit, and no matter what kind of monster you were, your heart instantly yielded and softened to it. Her face was flawless, save for the few dried up patterns where tears had escaped her. Hurriedly, she did her best to make herself seem presentable and not quite as pathetic as she thought she now looked. Brushing a few strands of hair out of eye line and wiping the dry tear streaks away, she did another bow, her hands clasped together neatly in front of her uniform skirt. The other girls were so jealous that one could look so cute and pure, even in the midst of crying. "Vampires," she continued dully, "even young ones, they have a special talent. A 'knack' if you will. While Ura-chan's talent is her physical ability, Kokoa-chan's has always been using words – the exact words necessary for getting at others and hurting them. She's had a bit of a verbal wit ever since she was young. I'm guessing she got it from spending some time with my oldest sister…"

"She can keep them to herself for all I care." Kurumu said. "I just don't want to hear something like an S-Class monster spit that kind of junk, vampire or no."

"I understand," Moka despondently sympathized. "But truly," she clasped her hands together in front of her as if in prayer, her eyes sparkling with plead. "She only wants to protect her sister. I already know that she hates me and adores Ura-chan, but she has it in her head that by making me believe that all humans are bad, she can make me more like…my other. No…" She felt hot water brimming her eyelids again, but refused to let it fall. "I don't want to be. I don't have it in me to be as cold and tough as Ura-Moka. She…" The increasingly distraught vampire clutched her arm in a piteous gesture. "…She hurt Tsukune."

The others studied her for a good long while, every usually bright detail on her now crippled with sorrow, every pleasantry in her expression now darkened with actions that she couldn't control, and everyone knew it. They each watched her when she…punished Tsukune. Each too shocked to do anything. Yukari was still tied up in that tree; needless to say she was useless. Kurumu and Mizore had urged their bodies to move in to protect him with everything they had, but their feet clung firmly to the ground. Instinct called them away. Ayashi's instinct. Vampires are red flags. Crossing one meant imminent destruction. They cursed each other and themselves for cowering like rabbits in their holes, almost to the point where they had about as much breath reserved as they would if Inner Moka had kicked them each in the diaphragm.

And there was shock in their eyes.

Shock, that no matter what cold fate that Inner Moka had served to what monster, they would have never dreamt that she would damage the one that from the beginning was only trying to help. Compared to that notion, the fact that Tsukune might have been on top of her, preparing to…do something, was a transient blotch on the scene.

But none of it was Outer Moka's fault. After all, an aphrodisiac born to the whims of Yukari could happen practically to…any living thing with the ability to have sex.

Watching Omote struggle to be strong and not cry in midst of her apology made everyone else feel pathetic. For as hyped up on pride as Ura was, they sure wished that the innocent side would make an effort to show at least a little. After all, in spite of everything that's happened to Tsukune, it's not like Kurumu, Yukari, Mizore, and Ruby were furiously celebrating Moka's cataclysmic mistake. They knew when to leave the past behind and look towards a way to get Tsukune back, and optimistically, tonight they made their first real step in doing that: finding him.

Kurumu finally stepped towards her with an expression that Moka could have identified as one followed by a hard slap to the face upon reach of her. Then, the sound of her approach stopped directly in front of her, and everything else in the world froze.

"Moka. Look at me." She commanded. Her forehead creased slightly when Moka nervously declined. With a sharp tug at her shoulder, the succubus repeated her order loudly. "Moka, _look_ at me!"

The vampire's enchanting green eyes trembled timidly, fearing for what might happen when she did. But she swallowed and turned her head up, facing directly.

To her astonishment, Kurumu's stern glare softened into an unreadable demeanor. "You can be such an idiot sometimes," she told her.

"Yeah…" She cracked in agreement.

"You put all of us through a hell of a deal of worry."

"Thank you…"

"But…" She hung the conjunction. "Everyone else is finished pointing fingers at you. Why can't you learn to let things go too, I wonder?" She finished the smart-alecky question with a tiny smile.

Moka didn't know how to react. "Kurumu-chan…"

"Seriously though, that Other you isn't gonna have any of us to answer to when we all find Tsukune and he finds her." She took a small break to stretch and yawn. "He might even kick her ass."

The vampire let out a small chuckle that was neither glee nor entirely fraud. "I suppose he might…unless he's still the kind Tsukune we all know."

"Let's get some rest. We have a lot of kissing up to do for Headmaster if we want to get him back anytime soon. And then," Kurumu winked, "Well, don't expect that I'll hand him over to you so easily!"

"Ah!" Moka's jaw dropped in surprise, but she was still undeniably happy to be forgiven by…at least almost everyone.

"Yeah~~!" Yukari shouted. "Then we can all get naked and celebrate! Party in my dorm room!"

Mizore slid in from out of nowhere, and held an arm up arced in an L shape. In a completely void face, she announced, "I enjoyed the part where Moka uncharacteristically got pissed off. Congratulations. You're five steps closer to achieving full womanhood."

Everyone laughed. And for the first time in days, Moka smiled again.

* * *

'_Damn.'_ A voice spoke from the rift of Tsukune's mind. The entire screen of his pitch black vision zapped softly with light. After a few more moments, three more fleetingly flashed up, a bit brighter than the first. _'Damn it this hurts…'_ The voice, weightless, echoed. The sound of voltage softly came and went with the white streaks. And in his ribs, it felt as though a hundred worms were eating away at him from the inside. His sight was gone, he couldn't move, and he had no idea where he was. He dearly wished he could say that he was better off than he was the first time he awoke to an unknown place, but in fact, he was much, much worse. Nothing was going to get better. Not now.

'_Seems the adage was right.'_ His thoughts spoke again as he strained against an invisible force over him. And in between pained grunts, it continued, _'Never…!'_ Jerk._ 'Trust…!'_ Yank._ 'A complete…!'_ Tear._ 'STRANGER!!!'_ The universe around him instantly exploded like two gargantuan speaker phones between his ears turned to max, and he hit a blinding charge of static electricity as he tore himself upright off of the workbench of a bed he was sitting on. He was still bare-chested, and he undid from himself the remnants of straps that were likely the things that kept him pinned down. He surveyed the area. All around him: junk, junk, junk. Iron scraps torn off of cars, gigantic odd slates of illegible runes lining the walls like headstones, puddles and even a river of ankle deep sewage running along creases in the dented floors, and yet for the entire mess of the place, brilliant lights of some advanced technology hung towards the ceiling, keeping roughly half of the junkyard illuminated.

Tsukune was cold. Alone. Trapped inside a metal tomb with memories barely spanning the length of a day. He had never felt – at least remembered feeling – so bitter in his whole existence. It was like a Frankenstein novel. And he had never less felt like the monster.

His half-closed eyes glittered with golden sheets, repulsed not as much with his surroundings as the feeling in his stomach, no, his entire body. A hundred ways could describe the pain. A flammable bag full of white-hot embers, a rotting, crumbling mass of driftwood, a Dragon Ball Z character after about the sixth time they've been graphically beaten to death, anything along those lines.

He stepped off of his bed and ambled around for a while, doing his best to go at such a pace he didn't collapse cold again. It was difficult work managing a body that no longer functioned; he couldn't feel his heart beating in his chest anymore. And yet there was always that continuous, reassuring pain. Stepping barefoot towards a straggled puddle of black fluid, he caught a faded glimpse of his own image. His eye glowed up at him with a malevolent shine. His face looked just like Aono Tsukune's, yet his skin was as unbelievably pale. His cold outlook deepened on sight of the long crack running down the side of his face, cutting across one eye. He put a hand to it. It didn't feel like medical stitches, yet it ran deep.

So, so deep.

There was a sharp sting as the pads of his fingertips explored the wound a bit more deeply. There was the feel of tissue. And _metal._

He took his hand away from the gaping ravine and held it out in front of him. His fingers were moist and dark red. Blood.

Upon look of it, his nature instantly fell unstable, raw with anger and with energy. With a low growl, he folded his hand into a fist and drew it back far, throwing it forward into his reflection and shattering half of the floor with his incredible strength. Gravel and shrapnel flew everywhere, and he slowly withdrew his bloody hand from the crater where once his own expression glared up at him.

So there were the facts. He felt miserable, bled plentifully, and now looked every meaning of the term _evil._ On the outside he looked perfectly like a human despite his golden eyes and pale skin. But inside the crack lining his cheek it felt like metal hooks and prods were working to pull the wound closed. And then there was a different…fuzzy feeling inside of him. Like electricity whirring busily just under the scar of his torso. In becoming whatever sort of ayashi he was, Tsukune had completely founded an excessive way to maintain survival. A boundless mechanism fraught with extraordinary powers.

"Damn you, Garandou." He chimed in a moan as he got to his knees. He hung his head up to the ceiling and repeated. "Damn you…"

"_Ho. I see that our new and fine specimen has up and activated."_ Tsukune's eyes shot open, and he instinctively snapped his head in a hurry to the echoing and charismatic voice enveloped somewhere in the distant black. _"And frittered away at my resources."_ Tsukune's eyes scanned a different direction. He had never heard that voice before. It wasn't Garandou. The voice belonged to a man; young, charming, and sophisticated. _"No, let me guess…"_ The echo persisted. _"…Collateral damage?"_

Tsukune responded in fear by picking up an object many times his size and flinging it blindly at wherever the voice might be coming from. "St-stay away!" The weight of the metal boomed loudly, and a sinister laugh shortly followed. "Oooooh, I wouldn't, boy." Someone stepped out of the shadows from directly behind him. Tsukune sensed him immediately. Walking slowly up to his back. He timed himself just right, and then threw a punch into full arc, spinning around and coming into a grinning face that Tsukune caught for only a brief moment before it winked away in a blur of motion.

"Haha! Did someone leave the windows open?" The handsome voice teased. "I think I felt a draft!"

Tsukune didn't take it to personal reaction, but instead threw another full arc, but this time, his offending fist was caught by a brown-gloved hand. He lurched himself forward and met face-to-face with a guy as elegant-looking as he sounded. The first thing that the two saw in each other were their eyes. Tsukune's, frozen gold; the new stranger's, a hazed glyph of azure. He had silverish hair that was neatly combed from side to side into two long sections of bangs. His skin wasn't quite as pale as his own, but still not a whole lot healthier off. His eyebrow was raised in a sporty-good way, and he carried a never-changing smirk.

The two kept in a close grapple, and Tsukune didn't feel like trusting another person today. "Who are you?" Tsukune asked sternly and cautiously without letting up.

"You ought not think so much as who I am as…whom I may become." He announced fluently. "Your punishment, for example, for your current acts in decimating my laboratory."

"My punishment?" He hissed. "You speak as if anything that could possibly happen to me…" He wrapped his other hand around the man's shoulder tightly, making him respond in a light 'oh' sound. As Tsukune dragged the fellow's feet off the ground and flung him towards the nearest wall, he finished, "HASN'T ALREADY HAPPENED TO ME!!"

His furious expression faded slightly when he watched the apparent scientist catch perfect footing along the surface of the wall he had been thrown at, and on it, he simply stuck, still smiling down upon Tsukune.

"You…you're standing on the wall?" The bafflement in his eyes quickly left, and in concern he asked, "Why did you bring me here?"

"If I tell you," the professor spoke from the wall, "Do you promise to stop trying to die so quickly?"

Tsukune had another heavy, probably painful object already situated in his arms, but on hearing these words, his hostility melted away, and he slowly put it back down, his gaze never leaving where the gentleman awkwardly stood on the wall with his arms neatly folded. As soon as he was sure that Tsukune wasn't about to make another rash move, he finally gave him a soldier's solute and announced, "Good man." He gracefully kicked off the wall in a gently heave of his breath and landed perfectly on one knee. Standing still where he was, Tsukune had a clear view of the man's whole form. His apparel said it all. Elegance. A brown trench coat with lines of metal shaped his slender stature, from under the opening; he set sight on a pair of metal leggings probably built for dexterity rather than defense, seeing how easily the scholar seemed to walk wearing them. He had a fancy vest with linings of gold and green, and around his collar was a gentleman's scruff with a red brooch decorating it. In height, he was only slightly taller than Tsukune, but previous experience told him that he was still a hell of a lot faster.

Despite what had just transpired between them, this man took no regard whatsoever towards any manner of caution or care in approaching the obviously perturbed boy; in fact taking a chipper joy in the advance, eager to get a look of his subject now that he was fully conscious. At the rate he was going, Tsukune was have afraid that he would bowl right into him, and he threw his hand out to stop his course, but it was grabbed and quickly flung aside, and the young man warned "Stop". Then with no mood change, he wretched his covered hand around Tsukune's cheeks and sharply turned them side to side as if to scientifically observe which side was the better one.

The boy's eyes were filled with wear, not fazed at all by this awkward act as it had been done before. His cheeks were rolled into flaps from the pressure until he finally slapped the man's hand off of him. "Enough," he commented.

The scientist shook his own hand from the surprising amount of force and then drew it behind his back in a professional posture. "My client did say you'd be stingy." He muttered.

"Client? You mean Garandou?"

He looked at him for a moment, then chuckled jovially. "Ah, yes, yes. Your 'Garandou' was the one that brought you…" He turned away and spread his arms out as if to acknowledge his entire lair, "To _this_ place." His note echoed eerily.

"Umm," Tsukune rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeeeeaaaaaaahh…"

"This…place, this…study of snuggery, this…mansion of the mechanical, this…"

"It looks like the inside of a gigantic trash compactor." Tsukune thought out loud, causing a loud, almost girly gasp out of the man standing near him.

"How-how can you say that about my home?" Tears comically drenched down his face for a moment. "This place…" A spotlight instantly hit him, the source: God knows where. "is an auditorium of adroitness to which the machines orchestrate, my innovations act, and I…" He threw himself into a kneeling pose, overdramatic in every sense of the word. _"…am the director."_ He whispered oh so dramatically.

"…You're a questionable case." His onlooker replied blandly.

"That's what the boys back at the academy told me, HAHA, I'm still trying to prove myself that it isn't true. But you're here now, boy, and we can all pay our fair dues against the Fairy Tale organization."

"I'm sorry, and you are…?"

"My name…is Faustus." He presented Tsukune with a nice, low bow. "_Doktor_ Faustus. Perhaps you've heard of me." A deadpanned exchange between faces. "…No?"

"I've gotta say, I don't believe I've _ever_ heard of you."

"…Well how about this, I'll even give you a hint, it's 'doctor' with a K. You know the German word?"

"I don't take a German class."

"Oh you don't?"

"…I'm Japanese."

"Japanese? Really?? Enrapturing! I wish I understood Japanese…"

"…But…we can both understand what the other is saying…"

"Enough of your squabbling fritter upon my intervals, boy. Come with me. I have something to show you."

Tsukune kept his feet firmly planted on the ground as Faustus trotted away. The scientist wasn't at all slow to catch on, and stopped at only a few steps. Then he stared back at him.

"Why should I trust wherever you plan on leading me?" He questioned him politely. "The last time I trusted someone I wasn't familiar with, I ended up trapped here. And then the time after that, I lost my pulse. I apologize, but I don't have any desire to discover what I have left to lose. I'm setting off on my own."

"Wise, boy? Do you find it wise? It was with my help that got you off your feet. And then besides, a while back, I seem to recall your going off like a wild animal and attacking me. Are you to say that I should have more of a reason of trusting you than you of trusting me?"

The man might act crazy, but he knew logic. Tsukune didn't have a good answer to that question, so he chose his best one.

"No. …But you don't know what I've been through."

He ambled past Doktor, and from a grin over the shoulder, Faustus responded, "You haven't either."

Tsukune stopped, and for a period of time, the two gazed opposite directions just over each others' shoulders. "That wraith told you about me, didn't he?"

"He saidn't a word. But it's just like that monger to drop weird animals with depressing histories off at my doorstep. Probably how he earned his title, 'Tragedy'."

"Are you saying…" He shifted his glassy eyes over at the young doctor, "that you know something about me that I don't? …Something that you're willing to tell me—?"

"AH! Little miss 'Garandou'!" He instantly jeered out to the dreary shade that overlooked his territory. "We were just talking about you!" The air was stilled and enshrouded with silence. Faustus pouted and came up with another quick jab. "Is it my birthday today? I see the present, but…where is the clown?"

The sliding sound of a blade penetrated the atmosphere, and a long, sleek, razortine tendril wrapped along the young-looking professor's throat. He did nothing but look on with his mouth gaped in sheer amusement. "You see, boy, words can buy you anything. If you hear naught, see naught, and bear naught, then only curse the air around you, and the most unusual and entertaining characters emerge!"

"_Art thou so high in thine own ego, shady professor, that thou knowest naught of death when it brushes near?"_ Tsukune's shoulders became pensive recognizing the coarse and wizened whisper.

"Garandou." Tsukune called out darkly as he witnessed the tall, blackened figure with the doctor in his death grasp. "What do you think that you're doing, showing up now? There's nothing left for you to take from me."

"There is always something, boy." Faustus corrected.

Garandou said nothing. And for a minute, his and Tsukune's eyes locked in mortal combat, until Faustus finally added, "Aaaaah how about those troposphere conditions, eh? Talk about bland. Just like this situation. Why can't we all just get along…?"

The lone funeral cloak finally pushed Doktor away, and he staggered near Tsukune, who thoughtfully caught him and walked around to his former companion. "Test after test," he scornfully told Garan, "I underwent test after test of yours willingly, and patiently. I came here to find you. Why I needed to find you, I can't remember. I destroyed one ghoul, even half an army of them, and now it comes to my demanding of questions that ought to be and _will_ be answered."

The elder remained bitterly silent.

"Hehehe, do you not just love a strong, controlling man, Reverend?" Doktor jested as he sat around cross-legged on a junk pile in the distance to light a gent's smoking pipe. Instead of a lighter, a snap and spark ignited a flicker of flame from the tip of his finger, amazingly. Really, the scene was astounding and unusual; a man that dresses that elegantly – looks the Look – yet still finds his home gleefully in such a place. "You're wasting your time with him, boy. He will only answer to one person in the same room as he."

Tsukune's patience was falling swiftly under with the combination of his misfortunes and the constant pain his body was now feeling. "Not to seem rude, but if that's so the case, maybe it's time for you to leave. Doctor."

"In due time," he replied without losing any of his enthusiasm. Then, with the pipe to his mouth, he proceeded to light the beacon while he finished, "But there appears to be a guest at the door. And I think I have a fair idea of whom he came here to find."

"Huh?" His leer set on the crumbled passage of the large lab just in time to see a pale, bloody hand grasp the side to pull the rest of the figure in. As his horrific features illuminated with the candles and the electrical sesames decorating Doktor's abode, Tsukune came to the even more pain-staking realization that there existed someone that he wanted to see even less than Garandou.

The man coming in looked only slightly older than the young doctor. An entire side of ribs was rather unattractively showing from his otherwise well-built torso, and his long, raven black hair swamped side to side of his pale-eyed gaze as he lumbered into the area, a gory grin of exposed white teeth and tendons around the cheek from the trouncing he had taken as Tsukune's so-called 'first' kill.

Tsukune's stomach turned from the guy's condition. He covered his mouth in shrill disgust and shock, and through a muffle: "I wasn't very thorough, was I…?"

The stray ghoul stood in an arched, cannibalistic stature in the doorway as Tsukune was in the process of receiving the kind of grin that a skeleton has. Quite literally. But this time, Tsukune could understand a ghoul's voice patterns. And though he wasn't sure how much touching-up his newly learned skill needed, he was quite sure that he had it right.

In a dry, coarse voice foaming with madness, the voice of the ghoul seemed to say, "I'm surprised you could push me that far. …You irritating little spitfuck." Everyone in the room stared at him. But he never removed his eyes from Tsukune. "The next time," he spoke horridly as he lumbered closer. Blood was gushing out of his maw and down his throat. "you cross a kind of ayashi that can't be killed…I suggest you figure out they can't be killed before you cross 'em. 'Cause ghouls _always_ bounce back."

**A/N: WOW I have been busy, lately. This chapter took longer than I thought… I've got a few things to clarify. For those of you not familiar with Doktor Faustus, allow me to start by saying that he most certainly is NOT an OC by me, he is a real…myth…I suppose. You can check his profile out on the SparkNotes, which let me tell you are **_**awesoooooome~.**_** Aaaaaah you can't begin to imagine how much I have been dying to finally get to use Doktor! :3 As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	7. Lysander Rising

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario + Vampire**

**Chapter 7: Lysander Rising**

Moka, the academy vampire, began to stir in her bed the second she laid her head down on the fluff of its pillow. From there, she felt a constant feverish chill slip gradually over her by every excruciating hour she reclined. Even though the event that led to her separation from the boy she liked drifted farther and farther away, her stress continued to stack. Her heart raced hard, struggling to cope with her starved state of anemia.

Even though she wanted Tsukune back for no greater reason than to just talk with him again, she couldn't deny a few…lesser reasons as well. He, for instance, had the healthiest, richest, sweetest tasting blood of any creature she had ever known - man, animal, or monster. What she would give in exchange for his presence and permission to taste it once again.

Her stomach rumbled slightly, and she blushed a light streak in startle and embarrassment while she gripped her sides so as to ease the noise. Gritting her petite fangs, she knew there was hardly anything to do but to let the stress overtake her and for the anemia to do the rest. Sure she had tomato juice, but that salty stuff was nothing compared to what Tsukune used to so mildly and politely offer her. …Or at least didn't put up a struggle over it like a lot of the humans she used to know probably would have.

'_Tsukune…I know it doesn't matter to you a whole lot at this point…but I remember your kindness. Please…please find your way back so that I can apologize to you. Then, if you'll ever come to forgive me like I hope you will, things can finally go back to normal.'_

But she was lying to herself, and she knew it. Her thoughts did nothing to encourage her. Where was he now? If he really meant to come back, he surely would have already done so, or in the very least, let himself be found.

She knew she wasn't quick to get angry with anyone. What happened with Kokoa back in the lobby was highly unlike her, and she had surprised herself. But more than anything, she had never been angrier at Inner Moka. Her more potent side must have surely sensed this, because she had since become unusually quiet for the past couple of days.

And now there was no Tsukune.

There was no Tsukune to check on from her large dorm room window on lonely nights. No Tsukune, for whose bright, innocent, brown eyes could stare right back into hers. No Tsukune to talk to and share lunch with, no Tsukune to offer her breakfast…

She never completely wrapped her mind around it and accepted it. She couldn't. He was only gone for about a week, sure, but you would have no idea how much a week would seem like…like…four years.

She buried her face in the cushion of her pillow in shame. _'You probably look as pathetic as you feel. You have to stop torturing yourself like this. You're a big girl. You have to get used to the fact that Tsukune wasn't always meant to be around you.'_ If this had been Ura-chan lecturing her, she would have surely screamed at her as loud as her lungs would let, but in all manner of truth, this was what she was saying to herself. _'You're happy…just to have met Tsukune in the first place.'_

Her white nightgown did nothing for her even under her warm blankets, and the cold sweat sensation came on again, stronger than before. She nearly came to the point of gasping quietly to herself a couple of times.

She tossed and turned and turned and tossed. The stubby wings of the chibi bat clock she kept on her nightstand showed her that the hour was slowly waning away.

'_2:46…? My God…I've been pushing it. At this rate, I won't be in any shape at all for tomorrow's classes…'_ She cringed weakly. _'Ririko-sensei is going to butcher me come math hour…'_

But through her wears and worries, the curtains of her eyes grew heavy; she slowly succumbed to a light, fidgeting sleep.

Then they opened again. She was still in her room. But all of her fatigue, all of her weariness, everything that could have ever promised her a delighted rest had left her. She kicked her sheets up and sat on the edge of her bed to sigh hopelessly. Realizing suddenly that there was no longer any point to wasting time trying to get something that wouldn't come, she set a bare foot off onto the cold floor.

An audible, horrid scraping sound, like a fingernail grazing a chalkboard, caused her to snap her head to look around in severe startle. Her heart thumped inside her chest while she continued to survey the room. Her window, which was so massive that it practically filled the entire wall, was completely black. She realized it was night, but it was odd that she wouldn't be able to catch a tree branch or a flicker of light from a lamp post at least.

'_Ah~. That window… How weird. I can't see anything out the other side…'_

The scratching sound subsided. She held her breath in anticipation for something else, but when nothing came, she let herself exhale and crept near the unnaturally dark window. She put her hand out open-palmed and began to let it slowly approach the glass. When the mere tips of her fingers touched it, the scraping sound came again, ten times louder than it was before, and Moka jerked her hand back to let out a brief scream.

'_Wh-what's with this noise?? At first I thought it was a mouse, but…'_

She could see the damp imprint on the window left by the hand that touched it. From around it, a fog filled the glass, and small scratches developed, spontaneously growing longer and bigger, more visible, cracking like ice as the terrifying grind continued screaming in her drums. She covered her ears in pain, and was finally forced to her knees. "Ah! I can't take that sound! St-_stop!!!"_

Black ink gushed down the gaps in the window made by her handprint, and the entire frame burst asunder while the sickly liquid pooled through. The millions of glass shards drifted supernaturally around her, and she closed her eyes while they inevitably closed in.

When she was sure that the sound was gone, she lifted her hands from her ears and opened her eyes, and her pupils instantly trembled in shock when she saw that nothing of the bedroom she knew was recognizable. Instead, she found herself standing in the middle of a small, hexagonal room surrounded by six towering walls of mirror. There was no exit in sight. She was trapped in.

Feeling especially vulnerable in her pajamas, she slowly backed up from her scared reflection until she bumped into the mirror behind her. As she turned around to regard it, she heard her own voice speak for her.

"Hey, Moka-san." She gasped upon realizing it was her reflection talking from the silverish mantle. "…You know what you should do when you see Tsukune again…?" The voice seemed polite. Soft, amiable; her own. But then her image threw a fierce hook punch out at an invisible target in front of it. "Smash him!!!"

"Eeah?!!"

The poor vampire staggered back and was cornered by another mirror bearing that same image. "Rip him to nothing!" It rallied vigorously, like a devoted spectator of a school brawl.

Moka was so hurt and taken aback by the words sounding just as they would if they were coming from her own mouth used so violently against Tsukune.

"You know you want to, Moka-san! You're starving, aren't you? Poor girl… You crave his blood; it's your very nature!"

She turned her head quickly for another direction. Two more of her reflections side-by-side caught her eye, and in unison they declared, "You're naïve, Moka-san."

Another way; a different reflection. "Please don't be stupid, Moka-san." The phantasm contorted her face slightly, and added impatiently, "Just think about what you are!"

By now the girl's heart was thumping like crazy. She wanted to scream again, but no sound emerged. She felt deprived of air, forced into silence.

"Do you have what it takes? Moka-san?" The reflection behind her asked through the tall plate of glass behind her. "You are a vampire. You are a monster. Humans are too wayward and prejudicial. It's not your fault – it's theirs. Humans…are the real monsters."

"Quiet!" She found herself able to speak again, but it gave her no relief to their verbal onslaught. The strain in making herself audible again merged with her downheartedness, and she fell to her hands in knees. "Not all humans are evil! Stop saying such horrible things!"

"But conspiring against the people that shunned you in your childhood is a _good_ thing. Isn't it, Moka-san?"

She couldn't look through the creases that kept the mirrors apart and the illusions in their own glass cages. Every time she tried, an image, not looking like Inner Moka, but her own self, would call her name. Looking down now, with her face aimed at the floor was no different. There was a reflection waiting there all the same.

"You won't get anywhere by lying to yourself, Moka-san. Why do you think vampires are so scarce now? The pinnacle of power doesn't just die away at any cause. Humans have kept our numbers under for centuries. …You are only fooling yourself by offering them your faith."

She averted the face as much as she possibly could, and while she rushed to her feet again, another image was waiting for her.

"Come on," she watched in frozen fear as one of the mirror images wrapped her hands around her neck to imitate strangulation, shouting, invoking, "Just kill him already!"

"He's yours," Another of the faces looked much more calmly at her while she spoke. "He can be _all_ yours, Moka-san. Or if you don't want him…_I_…could always take him off your chest for you. That blood…that taste…all of it…" Closing its eyes in ecstasy, the image of the vampire put its fingers to its lips, as if relishing in delight. Then it broke away swiftly and finished with a moan of pleasure, a potent flare of her emerald eyes, "Capu-chuuuuuu~."

"No!!!" Moka let everything out in a frantic dash for the last mirror that spoke to her. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes in brace was the identical twin standing on the other side, giving her an innocent smile; her green eyes content.

Moka smashed the wall with a spur of adrenaline she never knew she had, and the floor dropped as she flew through, as if she had just thrown herself out of a window.

She fell someplace dark. She fell, and she fell, and she fell forever. All she could do was scream the rest of the way. Before her agonizing, vertical journey would finally end to put her out of her misery, all of the voices of her own that rang from the sizeable mirrors all chimed together and finished in a united monotone.

"_Remember your place."_

She grunted in pain only when her body joined with a cold, hard surface. Opening her eyes with fatigue and drowse, she found herself sprawled out of her bed, a sheet clinging halfway down with her.

She didn't waste a moment to scramble back up. "Ura-chan!!" She shouted in a helpless tone.

A well-adjusted voice answered her summon, emulating from the cross on her choker. _"Easy. I had it too. From your eyes, I saw everything."_

Moka breathed heavily and put a hand to her chest, right next to the glowing heart of the rosary dangling around her neck. Both sides of Moka were wide awake.

"That dream I had…those mirrors! Where does this all go? That seemed too real to be a dream!"

"_It was a very vivid dream,"_ Inner Moka's agreed. But from the part of the vampire's soul where she clung to and slept, she secretly knew the reason behind it. But doing her best to cover it up, she instead chided _"Omote. You really must eat more. The more malnourished you get, the more your mind weakens. And don't forget that whatever happens to you happens to me too. Why don't you go back to the tomato juice, or charm some of the other boys at school into giving you a refreshing sip."_

"U-Ura-chan!"

"_Preferably a strong, healthy one with A-positive, and…"_

"I don't want anything!"

The other voice stopped. And she screeched to a halt herself, and lowered her head meekly. She knew what Inner Moka was like when she felt that she practically had to argue with how to keep her own health up. It was, after all, originally Inner Moka's own body to begin with.

"…_Are you…are you being picky about feeding, Omote??"_ Her stern voice was gradually elevating at just about the rate her patience was wearing. _"Do you remember what happened the last time you decided to neglect your health? You're such a pain to get with."_

"It's just…tomato juice doesn't help the anemia all that much."

"_So use your other resources."_

"They aren't _my_ resources! I would feel like taking something from someone else without their permission. It's indecent!"

"_Omote! You have to do something; it's already affecting your sleep patterns. You're not thinking clearly, and your not thinking is inconveniencing. You realize that?"_

The pink-haired girl stood up in a somewhat defiant manner, but found herself using it only to scoop up the sheets sprawled on the floor and resituate them back into under the covers in the traditional bed-making way.

"Tsukune always offered…" She mumbled as she began to sit down. Her heart jumped when she saw a tiny flicker of light flash from the rosary in a manner of startle. And even though Outer Moka feared having to live with her more assertive self if she dared arguing, she had no real choice at this point but to venture that Ura was more startled with what she said than Omote was about her reaction to his name. "All of what my reflections were saying to me…hearing it all from my own mouth was so stressful. They were trying to coerce me into doing things to Tsukune…"

"_Tch…"_ That was the very name that Inner Moka was struggling to avoid, and now her candid counterpart was rubbing it around her. Well, she couldn't say that she wouldn't have seen it coming. Knowing another person's dreams meant knowing whom she dreamt of the most. Knowing whom she dreamt of the most meant knowing whom she thought of the most.

…Of whom they _both_ thought of the most.

There was no coincidence as to why they had the same dream. There was immeasurable guilt for why Tsukune had to go missing, and why they have no idea where he is now. Maybe he just went home. He was a good friend of that strange and ominous Bus Driver – maybe he just decided to pull out before worst came to worst for him. But then she remembered something he said. The very last thing he said to all of the girls before the next year came.

"_I'll be alright," he said. Though his face looked pained for a moment that all of his friends were leaving him on a bus charted for the academy, or perhaps everyone else's' homes. They all knew that none of the ayashi were meant to stick around the Human World where he was, especially if the Board Chairman demanded them back. "…I'll return soon enough. I don't want to be separated from everyone either." His uncertainty melted away from his face in an instant, and was replaced by a confident spark in his eyes. "We'll meet again! Definitely!"_

And they did meet again. Definitely.

"Ura-chan." Even a voice as soft as her partner's could drag her away from her thoughts.

"_Hmmm?"_

"We've argued about this before. I want you to know ahead of time that I don't wish to stage a repeat performance. But…" The innocent side tried to think of the least subjective way to ask the following question, "Do you…_miss_ Tsukune?"

The light on the gem of the Rosario dimmed. There was a long silence. Then Outer Moka was thrown into complete outrage when her question was deliberately attempted to be averted.

"_School starts in a couple of hours. If I were you, I'd try to get as much sleep as I could. And since I __am__ you…"_

"Eeeeaaaah! Don't go ignoring my questions, I just wanted to know!"

"_Omote, what have we talked about?! We promised to lay low from thinking about Tsukune."_

"That's right…" She hesitated for a moment, to question her own boundaries, and ventured to finish, "_We_ did."

"_Hey. Don't twist my words. It takes two of the same thought for each of us to share the same dream. I suppose I can blame myself for that. I should have known that you wouldn't have been able to stop thinking about him, so maybe I should have tried harder to—"_

"Do you see what you're doing, Ura-chan??" She inquired rashly.

"_No, Omote, what _am_ I doing?"_ She dared menacingly.

Her other half staggered under the force of her words, but did her best to recompose herself and even out her breathing. Deciding to chuck out what she originally wanted to say, she instead asked, "Did…did you ever care for Tsukune? Just once?"

"_Did I ever once…"_ Inner Moka tried her best to follow her words. But the issue, the flaw that she had was to try so hard never to expose the slightest hint of weakness. Since early childhood, she wore her pride as naturally as she did her own skin. Why should someone that she had only met a little more than a year back tear away something she had accumulated for years? Where then would all of her self-respect, or _any_ manner of respect for that matter go to? How would life be then?

She didn't want to know. She didn't want to face it. She was…afraid to.

"_D-Did I ever care about him?"_ She stammered on some emotion bordering outrage and indecisiveness. _"Who was the one that protected him, week after week?"_ She demanded hastily, not giving her any time to respond._ "Who was the one that made sure no ayashi could crush him? Who was the one that stood up for him, from the very moment he met me, understanding that he was a human and accepting it in spite of a fact that it isn't natural for a human to attend a monster school?"_

Her other side swallowed hard, flopping her head back onto her pillow and gazing despondently up at the ceiling. If this kept up all night, then she'd _really_ be delving into insanity by the time she had to go to school. Outer Moka was smart, just like Inner Moka, but their wills differed in comparison. There was just too great a difference in fighting spirit to compete. But though she was too timid to really express herself openly to the other, she already had the comeback plotted solidly in her own mind, where it would be safe from her other.

'_Who was the one that bothered pulling off that rosary, risking your scorn because you hated being woken up no matter what, just so that all of our lives could be saved? Who was it that protected Youkai Academy from the Anti-Thesis with his own body? Who was it that kept us well fed day after day, who was it that decided to play the odd one out and become the only human we ever made friends with, who was it you never ONCE thanked?! Who WAS it, Ura-chan??!!'_

That was how she could have answered. That was how she decided not to answer. She wasn't so worried or wrapped up or obsessed with vampiric pride as the real vampire of the two was, so sucking in her words and keeping them locked there would be less of a problem. But Inner Moka was just so stubborn. There were times in her life that neither of them believed that the other would understand how they felt. And yet these two conflicting personalities are forced to bunk up and buckle down into one body. Thanks, God.

Turning to the side to adjust herself more comfortably, she waited around for about a minute for her drowsiness to return. As her lids became heavy, her vision of the room darkened, but something pulled her back awake.

"…_The answer…is yes."_ She heard her counterpart's deeper voice finally utter, tried in a way that would preserve as much of her self esteem as possible. But Inner Moka's rationalization skills weren't the best, because she never had to use them very often. Kicks usually got points across just fine.

"Mm?" She responded dryly, but undeniably curious.

"_I said _yes_, Omote. Yeah, he was alright. I guess you could say I…um…"_ There was a pause that Outer allowed her to take, recognizing this as possibly a huge step for her other. _"…I…accept…to have him around."_ She tried, hoping that this answer would be enough to suffice the both of them.

The pink-haired girl shrugged lazily, curling up in her covers. It was enough. It wasn't enough to make her completely take back all of what she thought about her, but she realized in a somewhat surprised way that this was probably one of the nicest things that she said about _anybody._ It might as well have been for Tsukune. Out from a yawn with cute tiny fangs jutting out, she ended the conversation.

"Okay…yeah, Tsukune was okay, wasn't he? He was the most…okayest……" She was so far into her drowsiness that she could no longer compose her words right. Flopping silently once and for all, she tumbled slowly back into slumber. Even though she really didn't want to face a nightmare as traumatizing as the previous one, she needed sleep. Badly.

From inside the Rosario, Inner Moka silently rolled her eyes. As quietly as possible so as not to rouse the young girl from her rest again, she whispered irritably, "_Haaaah…good night, Omote."_

No more bad dreams visited that night.

* * *

"…So really all you have to do is memorize the Quadratic Formula and you should get around just fine with today's assignment." Ririko Kagome lectured to her students later in the day, her long, slender tail swinging slightly this way and that out from under her backside – a mere segment piece of her true form. The lamia eyed around her classroom through rounded spectacles. "Even though factoring using this equation isn't always going to be successful, the purpose of today's lesson revolves around finding your solutions. We'll discuss factoring as we go later into the chapter."

Moka had her head down, her long locks of hair sprawled over her desk, a crumpling heap with fatigue. Her eyes were comically swirling in a daze. _'As expected, I came ill-prepared thanks to my horrid night. I couldn't focus if I tried…'_

"_Pssst. Omote. Stand up straight. It's important to keep up with grades."_

It was failure to launch. Moka couldn't regard her own warning with action. Around the classroom, the other girls, standing out from the sea of green uniforms with their own unique fashion trends, had no doubt noticed her grogginess, highly different from her usually awake demeanor.

The lamia quickly noticed too – highly evident from her steadfast approach to the front of her desk. Light enough, but loud enough to be heard through the wooden surface, a ruler was slapped onto the edge by a teacher desiring of her attention.

"Mo-ka-chan," she had a way to roll back nerves of even her most hard-headed subjects by calling names or saying short statements in a syllable-by-syllable lag. "Are you having trouble following along?" Her cold eyes told her everything; that she was fully aware of the vampire's unwanted drifts beyond the walls of her share of the school's institutions, and that she didn't appreciate it. A hand adamant on her hip, the adult towered over her crouching student. "If you want a private lesson…"

The young S-Class ayashi quickly caught the hint and shot herself up straight as a plank. "Ah! N-No, Ririko-sensei, you don't need to do that! I was just zoning out a little. I'm fine…"

"Oh? You seem to be making very good friends with that desk you're sitting on. Why don't you be a friend of me too, Moka-chan, and show us how to do Example 1…" She dipped her head down at the bottom of her laggard student's desk towards the bin underneath, adjusting her spectacles with a silent remark of disdain when she noticed that her textbook was still tucked in.

"Um! I'm sorry! I promise to follow along…" _'Scary.'_ She added in her thoughts._ 'Ririko-sensei is so scary if someone falls behind during her lecture…'_

"Page 334, sweetheart." She growled irritably as she rounded to the front of the board.

With all of the respect made due of a budding Japanese student, Moka stood up straight for the class to answer the question, doing her best to ignore the shaking of her weakened legs, cursing her own dire need for siesta. "'Page 334; Example 1: _x__2__ + 3x – 4 = 0_…um…well…" _'This should be so easy. I feel like we've covered this before… Argh! Why isn't my mind working?'_ She clenched her teeth down in anxiety and unparalleled frustration, but alas, only smoke filtered through. She had already forgotten the steps. "…I don't remember exactly…how to start, but…" _'Now I know how Tsukune felt… This is embarrassing stuff.'_

"But you don't know." Kagome went ahead and finished for her, arms tightly wrapped over her black, seductive lacings tucked beneath her coat. "Okay then. Why don't you go look for Tsukune-kun some more after class, see if you can find him?" An impending ray of light flashed bitterly through the lens of her glasses. "After all, you two did such a _stupendous_ job working last year…" She muttered in a wallowing grudge, but quickly disposed of the evidence by slapping on a cheerful smile.

A few columns away and a few rows back, Kurumu stifled a tempted grin. She knew what the sensei was talking about, and it had nothing to do with _studying._ More or less, a bloody blow against the face to pay for trying to enslave Tsukune. Watching a vampire end others' dirty work _did_ have its kicks.

She wished she could jump in to cover Moka about her current dilemma, but the truth was she had no real idea herself. Happy she had stood awake enough to keep from being plucked out by slippery instructor herself, she could only keep her mouth securely fastened shut.

The vampire gazed back down at the book lying face open in front of her on the small table. Before the discussion could continue, there was a colossal disruption to the algebraic lesson, as well as presumably the rest of the academy, when a powerful tremor shook the room, causing many of the students to yell in startle. The lights above their heads, off during the daytime, were suddenly triggered into a bright and violent show.

"Eah??!! What is it?! An earthquake?!!" A girl questioned out loud, covering her ears with fright.

"It feels like a 6-pointer!" A boy added lively.

Mizore shielded her eyes from the brightness and squinted. _'What's going on??'_

In another flash movement, a loud and angry buzz generated from the ceiling lights and then winked out, the raw, provoked energy with it. It raced out towards the window in the form of a charged bolt – out to freedom. Escaping the classroom like a glowing snake, sleeping out around and under the glass without managing to break it.

After another moment, the rumbling of the room died down, and students were heard rushing out into the halls from other classes, likely to run and make sure no friends of theirs were injured in neighboring rooms.

Moka, although undeniably shaken by the sudden jostle and beyond weird activity with the electric lights, was secretly relieved that the interruption happened while she was being held hostage under the demanding lamia serpent woman, whom she hoped had forgotten about her.

"What in the world…?" Kagome straightened her glasses in alert. "What could have caused this commotion? As the sensei, I demand to know what interrupted my lesson!"

A few students had already crowded to the windows, noticing the electrical flare slither through, and curious to know where it went. Among them were Kurumu, Yukari, and Mizore.

"Sensei," the succubus spoke up sternly, "you better come have a look at this."

Crossing her arms in a skeptical pout, the teacher approached at a leisurely pace, wearing her special fishnet britches up to her thighs. She stopped at the very end of the window to glance for herself, and she instinctively threw a hand over her mouth in absolute worry. "Oh my…!"

Outside, entangled among the telephone wires standing tall around the academy limits, was a long, bright, surging storm climbing through the circuits, as massive as a bolt of lightning coming down from the sky itself. They watched endlessly, mesmerized at the white static discharges on the ground crawl up and around the poles to conjoin with the more evolved strains of energy, gradually darkening into a deep and ultraviolet purple ray that was now actively clawing its way for one direction riding along the wires. The beauty of the unusual sight was absolutely indescribable. But along with wonder, there was also fear in some of the academy students' eyes, because something so beautiful could also pose dire threat. They had no way of deducing for themselves what the nature of those radiant electrical surges was, anymore than they had a way of knowing just what to think about it.

Strain after strain met up, collecting together until the wires could support no more added content. With a brilliant burst, the strings of the telephone poles burst into sparks and flames, assuredly severing the power to many sections of Youkai Academy. What survived of the static buildup crept in a gruesome living manner towards wherever the ending lines would take them.

"This is one _bad_ omen." Mizore deadpanned darkly.

"Perhaps we should inform the Headmaster, ne sensei?" Yukari almost pleaded for something to be done.

"I have a feeling he already knows." Kurumu responded, nose nearly pressed against the window glass, eyes following the blazing current as far as it kept in plain view.

"Well that's just ridiculous," the math instructor grievously announced. "Power's probably going to be out for the rest of the week. And the Chairman's probably not gonna like paying for the damages either. Honestly, are there any other peculiar problems left to happen around this place?"

'_Uh, Ririko-sensei was one of the more peculiar problems,'_ all three of the girls who witnessed her past transgressions thought in the exact same words at the exact same time. _'Hypocrite…'_

"I'm issuing a message now, just to be safe." The lamia was already at her computer, actively clicking the mouse.

"But didn't the electrical overflow fry the power lines?" Yukari asked the question just in time to receive the appropriate answer.

"…Damn it: yes." Kagome furrowed her eyebrow in irritation. Yes it did. "…Never_mind!_" She announced, flipping her frown upside-down to cover her stress. "Just because we don't have power, class, doesn't mean we can't be here to learn~. Now let's all pay attention to sensei~~…"

"Awwww, but Ririko-sense—"

"Sit, damn you!"

In a flash, everyone obeyed, not wanting to invoke the wrath of the powerful ayashi instructor. The end of the class period was approaching, but not even an earthquake and a power outage combined would be enough to wrench the poor souls free from her coils.

While their migraines would continue for just a while longer still, the ghostly electrons that erupted from the lighting system escaped to elsewhere…

* * *

The sky around the academy had darkened evilly since the incident at math hour. At the cliffside edge boarding the monster school, the scarlet seas below became awake and aggravated into stronger waves. At the ending telephone pole, the living, charged plasma had crossed to the conclusion of its journey. Full, raw, wild, it sank down the sloping wire and into the earth below. A great chasm split open below, meters in front of the hollowed eyes of the scarecrow rocking the tip of the cliff. Whitest light peeked out from under while voices below argued.

"We're almost out! Don't let go, whatever you do!"

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

"Ah! I said to hold on!"

"Oh fuck you think I'm _trying_ to let go?!"

A hand tore out of the ground, fingers clinging to the soil for everything dear. In a heave of effort, another arm came up, and with combined efforts, two bodies dragged onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Did it…" The first one to stand up was someone very familiar. As he explored his surroundings with his eyes, he hesitated on the finish. "…work?" He circled slowly around when he noticed the huge buildings in the background. A benevolent smile gradually widened and opened on his face, and his charming brown eyes lit up with triumph and cheer. _'Yes…!'_ His head was booming with inward applause. _'Yes!'_

"Well I'll be damned…" The second person stood up. "So this is Youkai Academy, huh?" It was the ghoul that had challenged Tsukune back in Paradise. He looked much different than he did back when. His black hair was much shorter and much better kept. On top of that, there was not a hint of gore on his body – not a scratch or leak of it to behold. He was transformed into a beautiful young man, in spite of his not-as-beautiful vocabulary. His undead eyes still cast no reflection, but apart from that, he looked perfectly normal.

"I can't believe it…!" Tsukune was the other person, standing right next to him, rushing out to the edge of the cliff to get a sniff of the air. It smelled like summer. The most beautiful summer he had ever known. He held his hand to an earpiece almost too small to notice, and spoke into it with uncontainable excitement. "Doktor-sempai! Sempai, it worked! We're out! …I'm loose!"

The speaker in his ear gave a harsh static tone at first, adjusting to the signal, but slowly, an audible and recognizable voice chimed in. _"Heheh, I'm happy for you, boy. The Zarathustra Experiment transpired marvelously. For the moment it was a one-time fling, but after years of strenuous work and effort here in Paradise, we've finally found a way to project particles through space and reissue them wherever we want! Welcome back to the Youkai Academy!"_

"That sounds so weird, sempai. 'Welcome back'… Yet it doesn't feel as though I've been here before."

"_It's thanks to the M.W.M.'s lovely toys (and myself of course) that you're here at all,"_ The scholar's charmingly soft tone reminded him, _"Zarathustra for throwing you back, and my precious Compass of Order for making these four long years pass as nothing to a wink for this school, ensuring that you can re-meet your previous companions and recapture some of your memories."_

"I don't care _what_ the hell you say about magical relics of any kind," the ghoul replied brusquely, "Getting here with them or no, I can't stand magic. It's the only thing that can hurt me. The rollercoaster ride it took to get over here is a shining example of that!"

"But you're perfectly unharmed." Tsukune replied, clearly already worn by his temperament.

"Tell that to the jelly sloshing where my organs used to be."

"_Now, now. Remember; you're both here for two good reasons. _Eins _is to gain Mikogami Board Chairman's trust and support. We want the Dark Lords on our side for the belligerency against the Fairy Tale organization. They'll be little nasty thorns in our side otherwise. _Zwei,_ to seek out the enchanted whip Belmont. It's likely to be around the exorcist's office. Reverend wants it to...get his land legs back on__. We want you to by all means indulge on reuniting yourself with your previous life, but you must also think about the mission. We've all spent too much time with each other to just walk out of the door after all, haven't we?"_

"All the better reason to just walk out of it…" The ghoul mumbled, gazing off to the side.

Faustus evidently heard him.

"…_Um. Please?"_ He begged in an utterly half-hearted way.

"Well actually, now that I think about it, we don't necessarily _have_ to return." Tsukune realized, scratching his cheek. "We can stay here as long as we'd like, without consequence to consider."

"_Oh dear, always one step ahead of me,"_ he remarked sarcastically. _"But wait! Oh, that's right, _I'm_ not the one trapped here. It's no bluff that I can whip away over to where you're at lickety-split and give you a well-deserved spanking."_

"That…gives me all the motivation I need." He concluded with a shiver.

"_Thought it might. I don't give the lightest of all spankings. You have a couple of weeks to complete your assigned tasks. Ooh! Ooh! This almost slipped me! Go search that incredibly absurd-looking scarecrow over there to your five o' clock! Myself, Reverend, and Officer all took the liberty of presenting you with…quite a unique present."_

"A present…for me?" He wasn't sure what to think. It was a wonder what the occasion might possibly be. "Um, okay. I'll go have a look." He wandered over to the ever-smiling jack-o-lantern on the tall wooden post draped with rags and stuck a hand inside. Shuffling around for a moment, he pulled out an old, elegant box and set it to the ground gently. It was pretty fair size. The boy's eyes glistened with childish curiosity.

"_Open it! Open it! Ahh, but first! Siegfried! Adjust the focus of the lens over your right eye so that all of us can see! I feel just like I have a son, here!"_

"Yeah, yeah…" The ghoul rolled his dead eyes and complied with the man's wish. The hidden camera aimed on Tsukune, who felt a slight tingle of embarrassment now that additional attention was on him.

"Ah no please, take that off of me." He beseeched, aware that there must have been at least a dozen spectators watching him from the other side. The ghoul grinned cunningly for his companion's awkward feeling. Finally the boy gave up and unboxed the container. His eyes widened when he saw a beautiful crimson color. As old, dusty, and worn as the box looked, he would never have expected to see something so intact and new-looking inside. It must have been untouched for years, yet not a flaw in sight.

Scooping it up to reveal its wholeness, everyone discovered it was a school uniform, perfectly distinct from any of the green uniforms the actual students attending have. It was the same general design, but it bristled with a flowing rose-red elegance, individual details engraved into its collar. He was holding up only the shirt and jacket part, but he saw additional pieces of the set still inside. The slacks, the shoes, the tie.

For a moment he was speechless; hopelessly mesmerized by the outfit's prime and singular beauty. "I don't…I mean…how did you…?"

"_I do hope it fits."_

Tsukune took a moment to bring the suit up to his face and breathe over it. It smelled fresh. Like breathing in the very fabric of nature itself.

"I love it…" He said, already beginning to undress out of his older black garbs he casually wore while he was still in Paradise. "You can't even begin to imagine how long I've yearned to try out something new."

The ghoul they called Siegfried reared his head towards a distant direction, taking the camera angle away as Tsukune applied all of the touches to complete his new look.

"Okay," he finally announced from behind. "How do I look?"

The animate corpse twisted his head around to look again, and everyone watched as the teen turned his torso this way and that to give them all a full look, as excited as a boy on his first date. To sum it all up in one word: perfect. The suit was an absolute fit, and he could have sworn that he heard applause and whistles of grandeur come out through his earpiece. Before he knew it, a smile was wrapped around his face.

"_Superb. You have the spitting potential that marks vampire."_ The voice was filled not with admiration, but of absolute assuredness.

Tsukune turned his head slightly to the statement. "Vampire?" He asked, confused.

"_That suit – that very uniform you're wearing right now, _right_ this minute belonged to a very special and significant individual to ayashi history. No, not just that…what you are wearing right now once belonged to a Dark Lord of Youkai Academy. One of the absolute mightiest."_

"You…" The charges in his body were bursting at his seams with anticipation.

"_That's right,"_ Faustus answered his bewilderment. _"And a mighty vampire he was. The Dark Lord Shuzen. What you are now wearing was _his_ personally custom uniform that he wore when he himself was a student of Youkai Academy."_

Tsukune's eyes shivered with shock. "Him…" He was educated enough the long years he spent working in the other dimension to pick up on whom such a renown and successful ayashi someone in the virtually unreachable caliber of Lord Shuzen was. A legend. What he was wearing belonged to a _legend._

"_You may not be a vampire."_ The voice in the speaker belonged no longer to Doktor, but to Garandou. _"But you have more potential and significance than any man I have ever known. It befits you well."_

"Thanks." He replied. He knew no other way how. It was a dream, but it wasn't at all like any of the surreal, vivid nightmares that he used to dream if he ever tried to sleep.

Finally. After over a thousand nights of unrest and torment…a good dream.

"Oi. What gives?" The ghoul spoke up, cancelling the camera function so that the others back in Paradise could no longer see. "Don't I get a uniform so that I can blend too?"

"_Siegfried! That was rude!"_ Faustus was back on._ "You cancelled the function! I wasn't finished looking."_

"_He_ gets a kickass trend, am I not so fashion-worthy?"

"_Why surely you didn't expect me to think of YOOUUU…"_ The scientist mocked. _"Go stake one out for yourself."_

He crossed his arms. "Tch. Fine. …Prick."

"_Lout."_

"Pussy."

"_Scrotum wears."_

"Okay, enough you two." Tsukune spoke up. "Thanks for the gift, I appreciate it. But can we go now? I'm anxious to explore what I only waited around for about half a _decade_ to!"

"_Hm, okay, okay, you have your new Youkai Academy entrance files ready, correct?"_

"Hai." They both responded.

"_You're set to go. There's no call to look conspicuous, so I won't be chatting with you for a while. Remember your objectives. Mmmm~ oh cripes, why didn't I give you guys a group hug when I had the chance~~?!"_ He cried out, making a somewhat pathetic attempt to stir their parting into a huge melodrama. _"Go... Cut transmission before I do something drastic. Just…just remember to dream a little of me, that's all a man asks, that's all…!!"_

"…Good-bye, _Dad._" Siegfried mocked the authoritative position he was making it seem like he had with a growl as he tore the headpieces away, severing the communication system.

"Finally, no strings." Tsukune sighed with relief while he continued examining his new outfit – one that had once belonged to one of the greatest ayashi alive. "I should've asked how they managed to ever _get_ this thing…"

"A story for another time." The ghoul that he was once enemies with answered after a moment. But a lot can change in four years, or more specifically, in the blink of an eye. "We who come from Paradise…always work in mysterious ways."

They took a moment to turn their heads up towards the burning ruins of dangling electrical wires and occasional sparks off what had once been called a telephone pole.

"Did I do that?" Tsukune asked. "How embarrassing."

"Those powers of yours are freakin' dangerous," his partner chastised. "Keep 'em restricted."

"Are you ready, Siegfried?"

"I'm ready…" The eyes wheeled over at him. "…Lysander."

"I've never gone without thinking of the friends…of the possible grand friends that I once made here, on this land. ...Not even for a day." Tsukune, the mysterious being that came from Paradise bearing an apparent new title, was no longer speaking to his undead partner, but across a forest of gnarled trees, into an institution at work and beaming and budding with young, charismatic life. "Especially the one whose name Garan-sempai gave me the end of his deal."

His disguise for slipping into the school was perfect. In spite of his slightly pale skin and his decorated new attire, he was sure he looked exactly like the person he did before he ever left the place. The long, gaping metal wound was no longer with him. It was healed over completely. His eyes were no longer gold, but the most handsome shade of brown. There was not a trace of ayashi to spot. …But he had most certainly _not_ left Paradise with nothing.

Peering at the towering monuments that marked the establishment the two were heading towards, his pupil passively dilated to let off a hint of sinister gold to mark its true color.

"So now, Akashiya Moka…where are you?"

**A/N: Yes, I know, he's finally back! Sorry I took so long, but you see, I actually started writing an idea for this chapter earlier, and wouldn't you know, fifteen pages into it I decide "Mmmm I dislike it." XD I had to start from scratch, or I just felt you all would be confused out of your minds. But hey, I've also been to complete another project – the cover for my story. I thought the illustrations went pretty well for my first lineart. If you're curious, just go to Deviant Art and type in "R+V: What Love Takes". It's not letting me post the link for some reason… T-T But I thought I'd let you know. I think you'll like it! ;D**


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